July 31, 2008

Day 213 - July 31, 2008

On Project Runway last night, they had to take a picture of something and design their outfit around that. Now that isn't something that I will ever be able to do. However, I think that a stormy sky would be a pretty good inspiration.

July 30, 2008

Day 212 - July 30, 2008

This picture is obviously not from today, because Elle and Nicki have both gone back to their lives. However, it was a lot more fun hanging out in my office when the two of them were around. Oh well, back to the grind.

July 29, 2008

Day 211 - July 29, 2008


I met up with my friend, Jen and my old boss, Mike for a drink after work. Mike is working for Abercrombie now, and I totally should have taken a picture of all the 6'3'' guys in ripped jeans outside the store. Especially, since there is a line around the corner. But Jen and I were way too busy mocking Mike to do that, so instead I just took a picture of the sign of the bar. It isn't even a nice sign, man am I lazy this week!

July 28, 2008

Day 210 - July 28, 2008

Do you know who Balto is? Well, apparently he is a really cool dog that saved all of these people from disease by going out by himself and bring medicine back to them. After his heroic journey he came to New York as anyone who's anyone does and therefore there is a statue to him in Central Park. Nicki and Elle were both psyched to see this. Apparently there was a movie about him in 1995. I must have missed that because I had no idea what they were talking about, but here you go, Balto the dog.

July 27, 2008

Day 209 - July 27, 2008

Elle had never seen the movie Serendipity, so since it is a favorite of my Nicki, Chelsea, and mine it was an obvious choice for us to watch. So since it was on our minds we ended up going to it on Sunday. I had an iced hot chocolate, but Nicki got this huge sundae which is really funny since she isn't even a big ice cream fan. The hot fudge was incredible though.

June 26, 2008

Day 208 - June 26, 2008

It was really wonderful to see Elle before she heads off to Seoul for a year. We had a really great time. Accomplishing something on the list, her getting to meet my sister and many of my friends at Katie's party, of course enjoying Christian Bale in Dark Knight and enjoying a couple of tall lattes along the way. This picture is outside of Penn Station right before Elle got on the bus back to DC.

July 25, 2008

Day 207 - July 25, 2008

Elle, Nicki and I went out to explore Midtown, when I finally got out of work on Friday. Somehow Friday seems much longer in the summer! Anyway, we went to the MOMA, and it was pretty cool because Nicki had taken an Art History class last semester and several of the painting she had studied live there. This painting is pretty interesting, but really we just took this picture, because Elle was having so much fun mocking people for taking pictures of paintings that we had to do it. I forgot to turn off the flash too, oops!

July 24, 2008

Day 206 - July 24, 2008

Oh yes! It was that kind of day! Elle and I had the most amazing Thai meal ever, from my favorite take out place. Then we watched Batman Begins in preparation for the next one, Christian Bale is so amazing! We even accomplished something on The List. Obviously, it was an exciting day.

July 23, 2008

Day 205 - July 23, 2008

I was given Mets tickets for last night, so obviously I had to go. They are tearing down both Yankee and Shea Stadiums at the end of the summer, so it was nice to go to the original stadium before the end. Angela went with me, but we were too busy chatting to take a picture. Instead I took a picture of the big apple that came up when Jose Reyes hit a home run. The Mets won and the rain held off, you can't ask for much more of that.

July 22, 2008

Day 204 - July 22, 2008

Blogger would not let me log on yesterday, for whatever reason, weird, I'm glad it is working again though. This is my last picture from Kacie and Dave's Wedding. This is Tiffany, me, Mike and Colin. Tiffany lived with Kacie two years and Colin lived with Dave for two years, so I knew both of them pretty well. It was nice to be able to catch up, especially over some Honeyweiss.

July 21, 2008

Day 203 - July 21, 2008

Kacie was nervous that it was going to rain on her wedding, but that didn't end up happening, they made it through the whole ceremony before the pouring rain came. It did get very dark as we were leaving though and I told Janelle to pose like she was blowing away, right at that moment the winds picked up and she almost literally blew away, which made for this great shot.

July 20, 2008

Day 202 - July 20, 2008

Amber and Larry have been married 3 years now, hard to believe but true. Anyway, they just bought a townhouse this year and it was cool to see it. By my tiny New York standards it is a mansion, they have 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms and even a dining room. Larry made some amazing chicken fettucini and garlic bread for lunch. I hadn't taken any pictures of there place, so instead I took one of us leaving for the airport. Amber's favorite feature of the house is a balcony where she can feed the ducks from, I think that even my mom would be able to enjoy ducks from a balcony like that.

July 19, 2008

Day 201 - July 19, 2008

Kacie is one of my favorite people from college. She taught me how to love football and made me a Packer fan. We also spent a good deal of time watching box sets, so often in fact that we got all of our roommates to be obsessed with Alias as well. Anyway, Kacie and Dave dated all through college and they got married this weekend. It was a beautiful ceremony and a great party afterwards.

July 18, 2008

Day 200 - July 18, 2008

I headed to Minneapolis/Eau Claire this weekend, for Kacie and Dave's Wedding. Friday I left work a little early to catch my 4:30 PM flight to Minneapolis. Michelle picked me up and then we hung out in her and Ryan's quadplex. We then went to breakfast with my cousin Amber. It was really wonderful to see Michelle and Ryan as well as Amber and Larry. Even though it was a pretty brief visit with both of them.

July 17, 2008

Day 199 - July 17, 2008

The Rosetta Stone is in England and I think that it is such an incredible thing. The fact that it was the code to an entire language is SO awesome and it was cool to finally see it.

July 16, 2008

Day 198 - July 16, 2008

Stained Glass Windows always look so beautiful and shiny from afar that you don't realize how they too can get really dirty. That is a cool thing about being working on the Church Renovation this summer. It has really made me appreciate what a huge impact a thorough cleaning can make even on things that already appeared beautiful.

July 15, 2008

Day 197 - July 15, 2008

This clock is on the edge of one of the squares in Prague. I found it to be really interesting. I would never be able to actually keep time on it, but I can still certainly see the beauty of it. I loved Prague!

July 14, 2008

Day 196 - July 14, 2008

One of the coolest things that we did in Prague was to go to the Communist Museum. I found it really interesting, because the Soviet occupation of the Czechs is something that I really didn't know anything about. This statue was the thing that I found to be most interesting. It was so huge and I was kinda shocked I'd never seen it before. It only existed for a couple of years though, before it was torn down.

July 13, 2008

Day 195 - July 13, 2008

I don't know if you have ever Sundayed before, but if you have not, I think you should try it, because it is blissful. Kumi believes that Sunday are intended to be days with no plans in which you do everything at a slightly slower pace than usual. It is a pretty amazing concept and I love it. Today, we meet up at Columbus Circle, ate sandwiches in the Park. Then we walked from 60th and Central Park West to 20th and 1st Avenue, stopping at a street fair on the way. This building caught my eye, because of the ivy growing up it. On closer inspection it was a bit run down, but I still love it because it reminds me of the Social Science building on campus in Madison. I loved the ivy growing up that tower which I used to judge the seasons and remind me of how much or how little of a semester remained.

July 12, 2008

Day 194 - July 12, 2008

We celebrated Kumi's birthday yesterday, because most of us were out of town over her actual birthday. So a few weeks ago Kumi had requested cookiebrownies for her birthday. So I made them for her in the morning, but in my rush to get to the beach I put them in my bag and headed out, without giving them enough time to cool. The end result was that you were only able to consume them by using the knife like this. It was a great day. We went to Rockaway Beach and then went to the Brass Monkey in the Meatpacking district later.

July 11, 2008

Day 193 - June 11, 2008

On my last day in England, my dad took me to his office for me to check out. It is just outside of Surrey and it is also a factory for a lot of their products in Europe. We also went to lunch at this great place in Woking. Then I had to pack and head for the airport. It was a really great trip.

July 10, 2008

Day 192 - July 10, 2008

Today was a good day that I spent in London with my mom. We went to the British Museum, ate hamburgers at a restaurant they like, went to Vinopolis (a wine place a friend had recommended) and then to the Churchill War Rooms. I really enjoyed seeing the Rosetta Stone and the Hopper artwork. Also I thought that the Churchill museum was awesome. They had this great interactive time line of his life and it is so cool. Today's picture was taken on our way back to Waterloo to catch the train. It is of Parliament and a big red London bus, a classic London shot.

July 9, 2008

Day 191 - July 9, 2008

The weather here is ridicoulus, it is July and Dad says that the average temperature is only 70 degrees in the month of July. Crazy, I've been SO hot back at home, so this is quite a difference. Today it rained the entire day, so Mom and I went out for an English breakfast and then rented some movies and returned to her house. We spent the rest of the day watching really good sappy movies and reading our books. Then for dinner she made fish and potatoes with peas, apparently a local version of the favorite, fish and chips.

July 8, 2008

Day 190 - July 8, 2008

I went into London today and had a really awesome time. I did the Westminster Abbey tour which is something I'd never done before. When I got back to Woking, mom asked which tour guide I had and I told her it was Ben, which she was happy about because he is her favorite one.

Anyway, I was surprised at how similar London and New York are. I remember when backpacking/living in Europe before thinking London was the most like an American city. However, in my opinion New York and London have so much in common that it is hard to see who is copying whom. Around the Westminster it is mostly tourists, obviously. After my tour though I went over to Piccadilly Circus and then walked along the Embankment, which was really cool, and seriously felt just like walking down Central Park when everyone is leaving work on a nice day.

July 7, 2008

Day 189 - July 7, 2008

Dad and I had a couple of real Budweiser beers on our last day in Prague. The Budweiser I know from America stole the name and the script from a Czech brewery years and years ago. I have to say the original is the best. Cheers!

July 6, 2008

Day 188 - July 6, 2008

We spent our entire second day at the Prague Castle. It is a really interesting place to go. It is on the top of a hill and overlooks the rest of the city, as I suppose all good castles would do, but anyway. Inside the castle there is an amazing cathedral, great courtyards, an awesome hall which is the oldest freestanding hall ever made and lots of other stuff. This is mom and I listening to our audio tour on one of the castle's balconies.

July 5, 2008

Day 187 - July 5, 2008

Prague! So when I decided to come to Europe this summer I told my parents that while I was there we should take the opportunity to go somewhere besides just London, where they live. So we decided on Prague and spent three days there. The first day we walked up to the Charles Bridge and then into the Old Main Square and the Jewish Center. This is a picture of me on the other side of the bridge with the Prague Castle in the background.

July 4, 2008

Day 186 - July 4, 2008

I got to go to Wimbledon, which was absolutely incredible! Friday was the Men's semi-finals on Center Court, but we were on Court 1 so instead we saw a whole day of doubles. The first match was women's doubles and we got to see Serena and Venus Willams play which was awesome. Then we saw the end of a men's doubles match which had been rained out the prior day. Then it was mixed doubles and men's doubles over 40. It was actually a lot smaller arena than I expected, Center Court only seats 15,000 so Court 1 is probably about 12,000. However, the really shocking thing is how silent it is when the match starts. You can literally hear someone cough on the other side of the stadium. Also they are serving so fast, frequently over 120 mph. The whole thing is awesome.

July 3, 2008

Day 185 - July 3, 2008

I got to London at about 12:00 PM this day. We went to hang out in my parents house, of which the back is pictured here. Then we went to dinner at Dad's favorite Chinese place and had some amazing Peking duck tacos as one of four courses Dad's regular order when they have guests.

July 2, 2008

Day 184 - July 2, 2008

It is finally time for my trip to Europe, which is why I have gotten SO far behind on the updating of the blog. This is the room that I am staying at in my parents house in Chobham, England.

July 1, 2008

Day 183 - July 1, 2008

The Church Restoration is underway and there is a lot going on upstairs. You wouldn't believe the amount of work that goes into taking all of the altars and pews apart so that they can be cleaned and restored. I leave for London tomorrow, I am so excited.

June 30, 2008

Day 182 - June 30, 2008

The Bryant Park movie isn't nearly as much fun in the rain. Even though it did stop raining, Kumi and I were too big of wimps and we went to get cheesecake instead! Oh well.