Monday, July 30, 2007
trip pics ... just a few
here's a few pics of the trip from my camera - my mom really took most of them with hers - but you get the idea! the ocean water in the grand cayman was amazingly blue - the one pic with the rope in front is from the deck of the patio where we ate lunch, the other (with me) is the private beach we found. if only we had a few more days ...
back in the saddle
but only for a few days before i'm off again.
far far too much has happened since my last posting to report properly, so you may have to call me for a proper catch up if you want one. but in short, it's been a great month.
spain ended up going amazingly well - the conference was a huge success for me personally and professionally - it rejuvinated me and gave me the much-needed energy to carry on with what i'm doing. i also found it gave me more direction with my role in the company and what i want to do for it. and then i got to hang with anna - who is pregnant with twins - and lounge around madrid in cool cafes and rooftop terraces catching up (and feeling the twins move around!!)
and then back for a few days of work before taking off on a cruise with the family! my grandparents took the entire basilius clan on a week's vacation to jamaica and the grand cayman islands, and then for a few days down in key largo at my uncle's place. a few of the highlights for me:
* buffets buffets buffets - all the food you could eat, anytime you like. we did surprisingly well, eating pretty healthily ... just MORE of the healthy stuff than i'd normally eat!
* lounging by the pool
* sitting on the deck chairs facing the vast and endless ocean
* yoga on the high seas
* running around the 'track' (10th floor deck) at 7am watching the sunrise over the ocean
* bingo with my grampa!
* buffets, did i mention the buffets?
* grooving with my sister in 'da club' late at night
* family dinners together (these not buffets, but with a fine selection)
* kareoke contests ... no, sadly, didn't get the boots out for walking - but definitely should have!
* getting to know my cousins better
* touring through ocho rios jamaica with our personal chauffeur (real name Lloyd - 'but you can call me Mr Cool')
* 90 degree ocean water
* renting bikes on cayman with alex and finding a private resort beach to swim for the day
* and then cycling to hell and back. (literally!)
* snorkeling the reefs in key largo
* lobster dinner at brian's house
* deep sea fishing
* and then eating what we caught that night
there are SO many things it would be impossible to get them all down in one blog. i'll get some pictures up as soon as i get them off my camera! it was a great vacation ...
but now i'm back in boston and exhausted. needing a vacation from my vacation!
a big shout out to my grama and grampa for such a wonderful week!
far far too much has happened since my last posting to report properly, so you may have to call me for a proper catch up if you want one. but in short, it's been a great month.
spain ended up going amazingly well - the conference was a huge success for me personally and professionally - it rejuvinated me and gave me the much-needed energy to carry on with what i'm doing. i also found it gave me more direction with my role in the company and what i want to do for it. and then i got to hang with anna - who is pregnant with twins - and lounge around madrid in cool cafes and rooftop terraces catching up (and feeling the twins move around!!)
and then back for a few days of work before taking off on a cruise with the family! my grandparents took the entire basilius clan on a week's vacation to jamaica and the grand cayman islands, and then for a few days down in key largo at my uncle's place. a few of the highlights for me:
* buffets buffets buffets - all the food you could eat, anytime you like. we did surprisingly well, eating pretty healthily ... just MORE of the healthy stuff than i'd normally eat!
* lounging by the pool
* sitting on the deck chairs facing the vast and endless ocean
* yoga on the high seas
* running around the 'track' (10th floor deck) at 7am watching the sunrise over the ocean
* bingo with my grampa!
* buffets, did i mention the buffets?
* grooving with my sister in 'da club' late at night
* family dinners together (these not buffets, but with a fine selection)
* kareoke contests ... no, sadly, didn't get the boots out for walking - but definitely should have!
* getting to know my cousins better
* touring through ocho rios jamaica with our personal chauffeur (real name Lloyd - 'but you can call me Mr Cool')
* 90 degree ocean water
* renting bikes on cayman with alex and finding a private resort beach to swim for the day
* and then cycling to hell and back. (literally!)
* snorkeling the reefs in key largo
* lobster dinner at brian's house
* deep sea fishing
* and then eating what we caught that night
there are SO many things it would be impossible to get them all down in one blog. i'll get some pictures up as soon as i get them off my camera! it was a great vacation ...
but now i'm back in boston and exhausted. needing a vacation from my vacation!
a big shout out to my grama and grampa for such a wonderful week!
Monday, July 09, 2007
when in rome ...
landed in rome but sadly missed my connection, which means i won't get to madrid until around 4pm. but fortunately, i have this priority pass which lets me into the airline lounges. so i've just taken a luxurious shower here and feel refreshed, if a little sleepy. i've got another two hours so i can wander through the duty free and apply enough makeup samples and perfume to look and smell relatively normal.
there's a new term out there for parents who are WAY too overprotective of their kids, who do everything for them, who cater to their every whim to make sure they succeed, etc. they're called helicopter parents. because they hover. i sat next to a woman on the flight over who was on her way to pick up her 17 year old daughter who was not enjoying her 'teen tour' of europe. it was the daughter's graduation present to be sent to europe on an organized tour for three weeks and apparently she wasn't really liking it and wasn't meshing well with the other kids, and she missed her boyfriend. so this mother bought a ticket yesterday to fly over to pick her up. i happened to see the receipt and it cost her $1800 - and they're coming back in less than 48 hours. yowsers. it's going to be a sad state when these kids are adults and can't do much for themselves.
so now i have a few hours in rome to catch up on some work before my battery runs out. must dash.
oh - but a BIG SHOUT OUT to my sister and my cousin summer - both whose birthdays are today! even though i know my sister will never read this because she never gets to a computer. to be 23 again!
there's a new term out there for parents who are WAY too overprotective of their kids, who do everything for them, who cater to their every whim to make sure they succeed, etc. they're called helicopter parents. because they hover. i sat next to a woman on the flight over who was on her way to pick up her 17 year old daughter who was not enjoying her 'teen tour' of europe. it was the daughter's graduation present to be sent to europe on an organized tour for three weeks and apparently she wasn't really liking it and wasn't meshing well with the other kids, and she missed her boyfriend. so this mother bought a ticket yesterday to fly over to pick her up. i happened to see the receipt and it cost her $1800 - and they're coming back in less than 48 hours. yowsers. it's going to be a sad state when these kids are adults and can't do much for themselves.
so now i have a few hours in rome to catch up on some work before my battery runs out. must dash.
oh - but a BIG SHOUT OUT to my sister and my cousin summer - both whose birthdays are today! even though i know my sister will never read this because she never gets to a computer. to be 23 again!
Sunday, July 08, 2007
24 hours of good stuff
i've had a very interesting 24 hours.
1. bought a book called 'the paradox of choice' ....about how some choice is liberating (obviously, freedom, self-determination, etc) but about how too much choice can be debilitating. (think 285 choices of cereal in your local grocery store). i bought that in the afternoon and sat by the charles on a warm hazy afternoon reading.
2. in homage to my friend anna, i made a delicious dhal and brown rice supper. recipe: cook some healthy brown rice for about an hour. in a separate saucepan, boil some lentils until they are mushy, brown garlic and spring onions, add the lentils, olive oil, yellow spices (i used cumin and paprika) and salt and pepper and cilantro (corriander), then mush together until it becomes a lovely paste. spoon the rice onto a plate, and spoon the dhal onto the rice. chop a tomato and add that with a dollop of non-fat plain yoghurt. delicious!
3. i went to see Sick-O. michael moore's latest flick. horrifying. yes, he can be one-sided at times, to his own detriment - but you can't argue with some of his fact. it's about the US healthcare system and how it fails us - a plea for universal health coverage. go to his website http://www.michaelmoore.com to see a letter that was written by the VP of communications of blueshield (an insurance company he attacked) to see how they are telling their staff to handle the reaction to the movie. interesting. i would hate to work in the insurance industry now.
4. woke up and went to a 9am kickboxing class (on a SUNDAY!)
5. alex and i got to a 10:30 unitarian service. he grew up unitarian and i'd never been. it was very interesting. and i think i'll give it a second try. though must admit, did miss some of the sacredness of the mass. nevertheless, got us talking about religion and spent about an hour talking about the merits, the shams (and shames), the good and the evil in it. in the end, i think we agreed we were on the same page, even if we approached it different because of our backgrounds.
6. went to a lovely sunday brunch and stuffed myself!
and now i'm on my way to the airport to catch an alitalia flight to madrid via rome.
and so begins a week of hard work and hard play!
adios amigos!
1. bought a book called 'the paradox of choice' ....about how some choice is liberating (obviously, freedom, self-determination, etc) but about how too much choice can be debilitating. (think 285 choices of cereal in your local grocery store). i bought that in the afternoon and sat by the charles on a warm hazy afternoon reading.
2. in homage to my friend anna, i made a delicious dhal and brown rice supper. recipe: cook some healthy brown rice for about an hour. in a separate saucepan, boil some lentils until they are mushy, brown garlic and spring onions, add the lentils, olive oil, yellow spices (i used cumin and paprika) and salt and pepper and cilantro (corriander), then mush together until it becomes a lovely paste. spoon the rice onto a plate, and spoon the dhal onto the rice. chop a tomato and add that with a dollop of non-fat plain yoghurt. delicious!
3. i went to see Sick-O. michael moore's latest flick. horrifying. yes, he can be one-sided at times, to his own detriment - but you can't argue with some of his fact. it's about the US healthcare system and how it fails us - a plea for universal health coverage. go to his website http://www.michaelmoore.com to see a letter that was written by the VP of communications of blueshield (an insurance company he attacked) to see how they are telling their staff to handle the reaction to the movie. interesting. i would hate to work in the insurance industry now.
4. woke up and went to a 9am kickboxing class (on a SUNDAY!)
5. alex and i got to a 10:30 unitarian service. he grew up unitarian and i'd never been. it was very interesting. and i think i'll give it a second try. though must admit, did miss some of the sacredness of the mass. nevertheless, got us talking about religion and spent about an hour talking about the merits, the shams (and shames), the good and the evil in it. in the end, i think we agreed we were on the same page, even if we approached it different because of our backgrounds.
6. went to a lovely sunday brunch and stuffed myself!
and now i'm on my way to the airport to catch an alitalia flight to madrid via rome.
and so begins a week of hard work and hard play!
adios amigos!
Friday, July 06, 2007
rioja, chorizo, paella, mas y mas tapas!
can you guess where i'm going?
off to spain on sunday for a week of work. i am actually looking forward to it because it is our annual conference and the culmination of the last two months of my focus at work. i'm co-leading the conference but have done quite a bit of the background work on it, so i'm excited to finally run with it. we are bringing 30 EUSANs to spain to gather for 3 days of intense work and play.
then i'm back for 4 days and then off for a HOLIDAY cruise with the basilius clan. can't wait for that either - fun in the sun! then back for another 4 days and off to london for mike and vicky's wedding! hooray! great fun, even if it means i'm only actually in my apartment in my own bed for 10 nights in the next month and a half. (actually, that's not quite as nice a thought)
in any case, this may be my last update for awhile as i'm going to be busy next week in madrid. not much new to report from boston. it poured on the evening of the fourth of july, so we stayed in and watched a movie instead. neither of us are big on fireworks anyway, so no huge loss to us. we were able to make it up to the beach earlier in the day and stayed till it clouded over. wouldn't it be great if all weeks had wednesday off. makes such a difference.
a big shout out to my sister who turns 23 on monday! (july 9) wish i was there to go crazy with her and her girlfriends. ah well, it'll have to wait until we're on the cruise.
love to all!
off to spain on sunday for a week of work. i am actually looking forward to it because it is our annual conference and the culmination of the last two months of my focus at work. i'm co-leading the conference but have done quite a bit of the background work on it, so i'm excited to finally run with it. we are bringing 30 EUSANs to spain to gather for 3 days of intense work and play.
then i'm back for 4 days and then off for a HOLIDAY cruise with the basilius clan. can't wait for that either - fun in the sun! then back for another 4 days and off to london for mike and vicky's wedding! hooray! great fun, even if it means i'm only actually in my apartment in my own bed for 10 nights in the next month and a half. (actually, that's not quite as nice a thought)
in any case, this may be my last update for awhile as i'm going to be busy next week in madrid. not much new to report from boston. it poured on the evening of the fourth of july, so we stayed in and watched a movie instead. neither of us are big on fireworks anyway, so no huge loss to us. we were able to make it up to the beach earlier in the day and stayed till it clouded over. wouldn't it be great if all weeks had wednesday off. makes such a difference.
a big shout out to my sister who turns 23 on monday! (july 9) wish i was there to go crazy with her and her girlfriends. ah well, it'll have to wait until we're on the cruise.
love to all!
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
muffin tops?
is anyone else growing muffin tops now that they're over 30?
no matter how many side sit ups i do, i can't seem to get rid of them. thank goodness the babydoll fashion is in style! bring on the baggy dresses! although alex and i were at six flags this weekend (an amusement park in western mass) and i can't believe how many girls i saw with muffin tops and VERY very tight tank tops. they looked painfully stuffed into their shorts. (short shorts, i might add).
ah well. seeing as i gave up bikinis last summer, i'm not all that bothered. bring on those fourth of july bbqs! happy independence day!
no matter how many side sit ups i do, i can't seem to get rid of them. thank goodness the babydoll fashion is in style! bring on the baggy dresses! although alex and i were at six flags this weekend (an amusement park in western mass) and i can't believe how many girls i saw with muffin tops and VERY very tight tank tops. they looked painfully stuffed into their shorts. (short shorts, i might add).
ah well. seeing as i gave up bikinis last summer, i'm not all that bothered. bring on those fourth of july bbqs! happy independence day!
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