the rest of the photos.

okay here are the rest of the photos in chronological order...

our second day in paris

chicago the musical and fun with sushi

the tate modern and drinking on friday

roadtrip to bath

camden markets

wow. tons of photos...

today i was so overzealous to get to work i backed my car right into the neighbors yard. normally that wouldn't be a problem, but 2.5 feet of snow made it a problem.. so much so that i had to take my dads car to work. what a way to start of the day! welcome back to reality.

cath and mike made the invitations while i was away. they look pretty good. :)

i watched survivor and amazing race tonight. wtf. the game i set up i am not kicked out of.... so pissed! in case you are curious, both of my teams have been eliminated. here is who's left.

cathy david and mary
joe and bill
emily oswald and danny
charla and mirna
hope uchenna and joyce
mike rob and amber
dustin and kandice
reba kevin and drew
john vito and jill
ryan teri and ian
eric and danielle

photos.

i have 6 days of photos to upload and title, but our cable is out. i am so mad.. okay, its back. phew!

the flights home were long... and for some odd reason i couldn't only bring one carry on with me from london to philly. so i had to check my laptop. :( thankfully it was not stolen or damaged. i would be lost without it. i tried to take some stuff out of my suitcase and rearrange so that i could fit my laptop and its case in the suitcase, but physics would not allow for that. but lucky for me as i was bent over with my shit falling out of my suitcase trying to jam the computer in there the man in front of me farted loudly right in my face. what an a-hole... i was furious and disgusted.

my flight was delayed a little leaving philly. i got in around 845 last night, thankfully my luggage made it well before me on the plane that left 30 min before mine for syracuse, so i was able to grab my stuff and run to the curb just in time for cath to scoop me up off the sidewalk.

MK however was not so lucky, last i heard her flight was going to be delayed out of newark till 1030pm. i hope it got off, and she didn't have to sleep in the airport, not that i don't think she can do it, she proved that she is a borderline narcoleptic on this trip. :)

i think as i post and title the photos, i will let them tell the stories of the trip, i had some great times and some not so great times.

as MK and i were preparing to leave KTs flat we decided to call a cab for the morning because of the sheer size and number of our luggage. i am pretty confident that her roommate S thinks we are the laziest people alive...

here are the pics from our first day in paris.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=dultmwy.4owwkbsu&x=1&y=-a7or2m

back in london.

so MK and i made it safely back to london. we met KT and dropped off our bags, had a quick cherry beer (coke for my teetotaler friend MK) and ran off to catch chicago at the cambridge theater in covent garden. chicago was great!! although i am a little suspect of some of the preformers. one was definitely a transvestite, but i wondered about one more.. the act was very sexually charged. the preformers wore nothing but bikinis, and the men were nor wearing underware under their tights.

MK and i have noticed that the men here are gorgeous. way hotter than american men. and that's without their beautiful accents.

tonight we meet up with KT and her work crew for drinks, prob more coke for MK. then tomorrow i believe we are going to take a bus tour thing to stone henge, bath and one more place, sunday i hope to hit an open air market. we did not hire a car in enough time, so when we got home last night and looked on line for one, they were either too expensive, or not available. :( poor planning..

i'm glad we did not go to italy at this point. after just a few days being in a country where they don's speak english i dont' think i could have jumped right into another one.

mk and i gave our metro passes to a couple of british people we saw waiting in line to buy a metro pass. we weren't going to need ours and with everyone being so nice to us in france, we wanted to do something nice. :)

we saw the tate modern today. i am sick to death of crowds of people. i can't imagine visiting the places we've ben inthe summer in the height of tourist season. the weather here has been incredible too. we're so lucky!

pics from paris

here are a few hand selected pics from our time in paris.. i will post the entire album when i get home.


missy is thrilled to see the louvre. i am thrilled to see her in that red coat again..


here i am after making it alive to the top of the arc de triomphe.


here is an artsy shot of the eiffel tower.


here missy is reflecting on her sins in the chapel of notre dame.


some of the candles people were buying and lighting for prayers.


this is the view from our hotel in paris. so cute!


last night we had a quick bite of sushi at this place where the food comes by you on a conveyer and you pick what you want. it was very different and kewl.


last night we watched chicago. very awesome.

more pictures

okay, i've nearly killed my battery, but here are our pictures for day two in london.. i am afraid any more albums liek this are going to have to wait till i get back home. :(

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=dultmwy.9ep4wvgu&x=1&y=-gig3o0

some differences

there are many cool things that i am seeing here. people are so friendly and the food is delicious. we are loving the relaxed nature of everyone here, its something you can feel as soon as you step off the train.

one huge difference between both london and paris and the US is that you can't go anywhere without walking up and down 15 flights of stairs, and i am not exagerating.. god bless the person that invented the escalator, they must have been american. i am in a constant state of sore. i really have no movement at all in my normal day. this is shocking my body, yesterday i felt as though my legs were breaking from the inside out. today is not that bad, but i still shuffle along the sidewalks like a cripple, but i did feel better after i washed down my IBs with a pot **50ml** of red wine with lunch. luckily i am able to shuffle along here cause parisians are in no hurry to get anywhere..

we've really had only one rude experience so far. we tried to eat at a little cafe off the beaten path and the woman wanted us to squeeze into a bench area, and the table next to us was no more than 3 inches away. MK asked them to excuse her but they ignored her.. we decided to leave, plus we could barely see each other through the smoke anyway.

mk has something to say..

she is in heaven with all the chocolate, wine and cheese **even though she refuses to drink here, i feel like i am in ireland again, amendendment, she had a glass of wine, once***

paris...

****the keyboard is very different.. so in the interest of time, bear with me, i am going to pretend its not.*****

we have been having quit the qdventure here in pqris:

first thing ze hqd to pqy one euro to use the bqthroon qt the trqin stqtion, becquse somehow my underware was falling off, and a man walked in on missy.

we are able to navigqte the metro just fine, but we could not find out hotel. and i am afrqid to tqlk to people in the limited french i know. thank god MK is not afrqid.

our hotel room is like no other ive been in. i took plenty of pictures, theyll speqk for themselves.

i dont know what everyone is tqlking about when they say that french people speak english, but refuse to speak it to them. the cab driver that took us to the arc de triomphe only spoke english to us. i think he likes to prqctice.

speaking of the arc... i asked him to drive around the rotary there and drop us off. it was insane traffic. he almost drove right into a bus. then he dropped us off and told us thqat you basically play chicken to get across. so we did, MK with a little coaxing. it was only 7-8 lanes of traffic with no real order... i swear i read that there is an elevator to the top... ive never been more wrong, there are 284 steps up, and 284 steps down.

i am kind of loving the openness and relaxed vibe i am getting here. the national monuments are all so integrated and approachable here, and the streets are open, but the best part of this city is the flatness.

its also very sexy here, there are naked people statues everywhere, ive seen many provactive paintings/stores, etc.

today were going to the orsay, the eifel tower and notre dame.

ill try to post some pics of these adventures when i get back to london.

au revoir

day 2.

today was a long day! we accomplished many things though. we got a sim card for the phone, went on the brown bus tour of london, shopped a little, walked to the london eye and took a ride, it was the highlight of MKs day, she loved the big ferris wheel, i thought it was not worth the $30, it was very foggy. the bus tour was very informational as they usually are, our guide was pretty humorous...

we ate at "the mozzerella bar" in selfridges. it reminded me a little of the food area of ikea. we lazily walked back to where KT works and met her before we headed over to Ping Pong for my bday dinner. yummmmm..

we decided we are going to spend friday in london again and make it to the tate modern. we are going to try to see play on thursday. saturday we are going to rent a car and drive south of london to the coast. but KT does not want to be in a car all day, so she is going to plan where we go. i'm looking forward to driving..

tomorow is paris. :)

i have pics, but limited battery, so i'll need to post them later.

this morning.

i just named my pics, and posted the blog i had written. in the midst of all that, my 1st battery went dead, so i grabbed my power source, i only have half of it..

so i dont' know how much longer the pics will come.. i am so pissed. i am on my laptop, but this battery will only last so long..

we've got a hectic scheduel today and i have a headache and my heel is killing me... wish me luck. i have to wake missy. she's dead to the world.

up until last night.

the first flight i was on was fine, i sat next to a chatty girl that was on her way to meet up with her boyfriend in florida. she must have mentioned that 19 times. :)

the 2nd and 7+ hour flight i am on now. it's 820pm. i had a whole row to myself, but a family of three has decide that my row was better. :( they are serving dinner now. i missed what the choices were because the family was moving to my row when they went over the choices. we have a choice of 8 movies in our seatbacks. when my laptop batteries die, i will watch one of their movies. i hop what i choose doesn't offend the 7 year old that is squirming next to me. :)

its now 1130pm EST. i just watched the guardian... kevin costner, ashton kutcher, i liked it. i think kevin costner is good. these noise cancelling headphones are so amazing, and they rest OVER your ears, so they don't hurt. i am watching the illusionist now, i can't believe i have almost 4 hours left. i don't know if i'll be able to sleep on this flight, i better try though, and then score some redbull as soon as i get to gatwick.

okay, its 9pm, and we are done walking for the day, thank god. it will be a minor miracle if i can even move tomorrow. katie took us on a walking tour of england today i think. before we did that though, we had breakfast at a cafe where MK ordered "cheese toast". KT tried to warn her, but MK insisted, you can see the results in the slideshow..

we are all hooked up to do all sorts of sightseeing again tomorrow. it's going to be another rough day i can tell. we are going to try to see a show too. not sure which one though.

RS was so kind as to let us borrow her friends cell phone so we can get our own sim card and be able to keep in touch with KT while we are here.

here are some pics for you enjoyment, check out the rest in my photo album.


MK has never seen a camera before...


KG and BDs house. so cute! they are on the 3rd floor.


Picadilly Circus. the poor mans times square


KG and RS at the going away dinner.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=dultmwy.5c1pc0ym&x=1&y=-lwmvrn

todays the day!!

my suitcase is nothing short of 95 pounds. i am really looking forward to walking it up the mountain of a hill where KT lives with it in tow. if the road up to her house could be slushy and muddy, that would make it better. :)

so i have some insanely good news. i went through most of my boxes in the basement and i found my kitty hat!! woooo who!

i just had a conversation with MK, she sounds stressed. she also was unaware what a self check in kiosk was. i have a feeling this trip will be fun. MK doesn't seem to know what a lot of stuff is, for example she's never heard of the stonehenge. so i think it will be great fun seeing things with her. :) i'll be able to make up all sorts of stories and she'll have no idea! LOL.

we have been pounded on with snow lately, here are the pics...

lots of things to think about and do...

i was laying in bed last night, my brain refusing to shut off and i started thinking about how the UK operates on a 24 hour day. i was thinking, do they go around all day subtracting 12 from the time, or do they think in army time, and if that is the case, do they say "cheerio, its seventeen o'clock!" are their watches and clocks bigger than normal watches and go all they way to 24? i must get to the bottom of this inquiry...

while i was at target today picking up a cute small umbrella i also grabbed the paperback versions of Harry Potter 5 and 6. my flight there is 10.5 hours, and the flight back is going to be 13, i'm hoping to finally finish at least book 5. i also have 3 netflix movies to watch, and i shuddered when i saw what i have. Wonderland. in case you are unfamiliar with that movie, its about john holmes and how he was implicated in a murder. in case you don't know, john holmes was a porn star back in the day, so i would imagine there is some sort of porn in this movie. porn movies make great airplane movies. :)

i'm researching taking a roadtrip the last weekend we are in london, edinburgh scotland is only 6.5 hours drive from london. and that was the best part of the ireland trip, driving on the wrong side of the road, in the wrong half of the car... wooo who! so fun!

i have also been thinking that since people are coming up for st pattys day, then maybe i should have a st pattys day/birthday dinner somewhere. if you live in the area and don't already have plans, i'll be inviting you to a dinner that night, location tbd..

3 more days!!

the weather in london right now 40 degrees and raining and i can't wait to get there.. i got myself stuck in my driveway this morning.. mike and cath had to help me out, it was family fun time at 9AM.. cath had a snow day. that is 2 this year. i wish real jobs had snow days too. :(



we are ridiculously close to being ready to start the assembly line for SBs wedding invitations. i have to say they are so cool i might reconsider my stance on doing my own invitations if the need ever arises..

the person i am staying with in London is being very unresponsive via email. i must admit its making me a little nervous. i hope she didn't die, or is in the hospital. if only my phone could call to england..

this is a great valentines tale...
i don't think i've ever heard of mike missing an important holiday or event for cath (anniversary, bdays, v-day, mothers day, etc). his style is to leave a card where she will find it in the morning. so this morning i am getting ready for work making my lunch and see his envelope on the kitchen table addressed to cath with hearts drawn on the envelope. cath ambles into the kitchen a few minutes later wiping sleep from her eyes and throws some coffee in the microwave. she then spots the letter and is totally thrown. "what's this?!?!?!?!?" she exclaims. i remind her that its v-day.. you can see the panic set in. apparently she forgot, god knows how. so i'm checking my email before work and i hear her cursing and banging around in the dining room. "damn, i can't find anything good" she says. she was scourging through all her stock of blank cards. luckily for mike she found one that she had given some valentines day past. "he'll never remember i've given this to him before"... cath must think mike is the dumbest man alive.. i would start dating them when i received them if i was him...

this is what winter should be...

Check out pics of the debilitating snow that has hit mainly oswego area. syracuse has some snow, but not nearly as much as oswego/parish/mexico...

people keep sending us their pics. they are pretty awesome. i feel like this is what winter was every year when i was a kid.

today begins the countdown... i leave for london in 5 days! and to kick it off i had an unfulfilling trip to target. :( i thought i would be able to cruise in and grab luggage distinguishers and i was also looking for a pair of hello kitty underwear for missy (big long inside joke). they had neither. so disappointed. i did grab a twin sized blow up mattress to leave with KT so i'll have somewhere to sleep there. it beats bringing something, then having to bring it home.. :)

this will be the first year in a long time that i don't have a b-day party. i'll have to plan a get together for next year.

haircut in the morning.

i got a bunch of inches cut off, and now its all one length instead of long layers in a U. the women also told me never to dye my hair because its a "gorgeous" color. :) i love going to the hairdresser.. i used some of caths hairspray to keep the flyaways to a minimum, and it smells like grape, its heavenly!!

i'm off to a bday party.. its a surprise party. i've never been to a surprise party, i hope it works!

Happy 29th Birthday Cath!!!

Today is Cath's birthday!! it was 29 years ago this very day that she popped out of her moms vagine. :) hahahaha. she claims she is going out all night tonight, but i think she is fibbing, i bet she'll be right on the couch where she belongs tuning into the premier episode of LOST and the LOST survival guide before that.

happy birthday mom!!!

i almost forgot!

i was heading to bed when i remembered i said i would post a pic of my new workspace... i didn't want to not follow through on a promise i made, so i stayed up, and here are the fruits of my labor.

seductively violent movie

i just watched Green Street Hooligans in preparation for my trip abroad. i never knew there was such a thing as "firms", organized collections of fans of soccer teams that fight each other. its a pretty fascinating and scary idea. i wonder if KTs BF is in a firm. :)

the movie was great in a horrific, fiercely loyal, violent sort of way. the violence was actually very seductive.. maybe it was because the movie was so "male" that the testosterone oozed through the tv set. maybe that was the appeal for me. in any case, i recommend it.

most curious text..

i rec'd a text this weekend from a friend saying they were entering in a bacon eating contest. it just struck me now that i have no idea what that would entail, and the very thought of it makes me kind of sick. i am a pretty picky meat eater and bacon is one of those things that needs to be just right for me to eat. if its not ridiculously crispy i can't eat it. anyway, in and amongst the dress fittings we talked about how much bacon each of us could eat. 2 lbs seemed like no problem to these women. i am curious to hear how my friend fared, how much he ate, how much the winner ate and what the heck the prize was.. just thinking about that much bacon is giving me canker sores on my tongue from salt overload. i'll be sure to report back when i here the results.

i prepped my area here in my new office so i could photograph it for the blog and my myspace, but alas, i have left my purse at home today. :( perhaps tomorrow.

amazing race pool.

okay, i've been pressured into doing the amazing race pool. who wants in? its sure to be a great show, its the all star edition. there are many good couples playing, mirna and schmirna, rob and amber, the couple from kentucky.. it'll be a fantastic show. please let me know who wants in, and if anyone else you know wants in, i'm thinking $5 a couple. if you want more than one couple, you can pay more. i'll do a drawing when we have enough people. there are 11 teams competing.

oh, and in case you were a fan of wfischer before, he's back blogging again. he wants you to know. who knows how long this blogging stint will last, but it'll most likely be worth reading...

surprisingly productive wedding weekend.

contrary to my doubtful predictions, this weekend was super productive for wedding things..

i ordered 2 dresses at the bridal store. i sized off their charts, which meant i had to pay an extra $15-20 per dress to order the largest size the dress comes in, and then its not guaranteed that the dress will fit. keep in mind though the dress i ordered that i "won't fit in" is 2 sizes larger than what i would normally order. and for SBs wedding, we had to pay RUSH fees, so that's another $40. good god its expensive to be in a wedding. when the dresses come in i will need to have them altered. probably made smaller by 2 sizes, then the floor length one will need to be made shorter by probably 6 inches. :( who knows what that will cost. those bridal places must make a mint. i'm in the wrong business.

after dresses we nailed down the phattest design for the invitations. you'll all be asking me to do your invitations if you're not already married. :) (and i'll cordially say no, cause making wedding crap is stressful and a pain in the ass...if i ever get married i'm ordering mine.) they are going to be so cool....

here are the dates for SBs shower and bachelorette. if you are going to the wedding, heads, up you'll be invited to these two dates.
Shower, in Olean April 14th. Bachelorette, in Syracuse April 28th.

here are a couple of the family pics.

its woodchuck day!

yay! let's celebrate! i'm a little disappointed with boston.com for not having a cute little custom groundhog version of their header like they do for other holidays. my guess is the web designer in charge of that graphic is a guy.

i'm glad today is friday, this week has seemed long for some reason. i think the new family portraits will be coming home this weekend with the girls, so look for it soon in my myspace profile pics.. i might even post it here.. we had fun doing it this year.

i'm surprised that noone up here in the CNY that i know are having a superbowl party. or maybe they are and i'm just not invited. :) i heard on the radio today that aside from thanksgiving, Superbowl Sunday is the biggest single eating day of the year.

hmm, not much more to report. i am slowly but surely getting sucked into american idol. i've already watched more episodes of this season than i have of any other season put together. i have never watched the next stage of things when they get to hollywood. so i am a little curious.

last night i dreamt of museums.. i think my subconscious is planning for my trip, now i just need my conscious body to catch up. :)