« April 2013 | Main | June 2013 »
Friday, May 31, 2013
Dockyards, Whittard's and a great day all around
Another quick update from this side of the pond. :) Having a really great time so far. Today we went to the Historic Dockyards in Portsmouth. Did a harbor cruise and also checked out two of the historic ships. The weather was nice and sunny so it was a great day all around. Had fun walking around looking at all the different nautical stuff.
After the dockyard we went back to Gunwarf Quays where we had parked to have lunch. The weather was beautiful still so we were able to sit outside which was nice. After lunch we did some shopping. Went to Whittard's for some tea (always very important). Paperchase (stationery store) and Cadbury.
Now back at the house relaxing, catching up on my emails, Facebook etc.
Tomorrow we are heading to a region called Durdle Door which looks really beautiful. Looking forward to it. :)
You can click here to see the pictures I took today.
Mail Update: Owe replies to: Celia/MA, Carmen/Malta and Tiffany/OK.p
Posted by Hanna at 03:29 PM in Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Hello from England
Hello from England. :) Here is a quick update. Had a good trip here and everything has gone well so far. The ride to JFK took forever in traffic but that isn't anything new really. Once I got there, checked in and went through security I still had plenty of time to sit down and have a meal and some wine.
Aer Lingus was ok. I honestly was a bit underwhelmed but I suppose they are a budget airline of sorts so it was about what I expected. They only had 1 drink service on the whole flight. The food was so-so, no morning snack, just some OJ. The seat pitch and width also seemed a tad worse. But all in all the flight was a lot cheaper than anything else so I would do it again if needed. :)
Got into London Heathrow a little after 9am. My friend Joanne and her boyfriend Dan picked me up. Went back to Portsmouth to their house where we hung out for a bit before we went to lunch. Had a yummy lunch at a place called "The Tenth Hole". After lunch we went grocery shopping at Aldi's. Bought plenty of goodies for my stay here.
Now we are just hanging out, surfing the web & watching TV. Mostly just trying to stay awake. LOL. Tomorrow we will have a bit more of a real itinerary. Main event stop tomorrow is Whittar's to go tea shopping. Yay. :)
Looking forward to the rest of my stay here. You can click here to see the few pictures I took today.
Mail Update: Owe replies to: Celia/MA, Carmen/Malta and Tiffany/OK.
Posted by Hanna at 12:24 PM in Food and Drink, Travel | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Before Midnight, packing, Memorial Day weekend etc.
So here I am, Sunday night, pretty much done with my packing for my Europe trip. Leaving on Wednesday but tomorrow we are invited to a Memorial Day party after work and Tuesday night I just want to relax. So I procrastinated forever but finally got it done today. I think I am all set but as always have that nagging feeling that I am forgetting something. At least packing a few days beforehand I have a couple of days to figure out what it is I might be forgetting. :)
The weather is what concerns me the most. It looks kind of unstable in both England and Austria so I really wasn't sure what to pack. I also didn't really have room to overpack since I have limited space, plus bringing along a bunch of gifts/treats/goodies for people. So we will see how that works out. :)
Yesterday, Saturday, we went to see "Before Midnight" in NYC. It released in New York and L.A. this weekend. I was super excited to see the movie and it definitely did not disappoint. For those of you who don't know this is the 3rd movie in this series, the first ones being "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset". The first movie was set in Vienna, the second one in Paris and the third one now in Greece. I am hoping they will eventually make a fourth movie to continue the story of Jesse & Celine. It was great to be able to see the characters again.
After the movie we had dinner at a Mexican place called Dos Caminos. We had walked by the place a million times when in the neighborhood but just never went. So yesterday we finally got to try it out and it was definitely good. Wouldn't hesitate to go back. Delicious margaritas.
Tomorrow it's Memorial Day. We will be at work for a good part of the day. Will see how it goes. After work we are heading to our friends Tim and Sam's place for a party they are having. Then one more full day of work on Tuesday and Wednesday I will be on a plane to England. Yay. :)
Mail Update: Letters are going out tomorrow to: Charles/TN and Jessica/DE. Owe replies to: Celia/MA, Carmen/Malta and Tiffany/OK.
Posted by Hanna at 08:46 PM in Austria , Film, Food and Drink, Holidays, NYC | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Eurovision 2013
So last night was the Eurovision Song Contest. As we say in German "Alle Jahre wieder" which loosely translates to "that time of year again". :) It's such a crazy show full of the strangest performances, the weirdest hairdos, the craziest dancers and outfits but somehow when you put it all together it ends up being fun. They don't broadcast it on TV here in the US so I have to record it via my German TV website and then download it and watch it after the fact. But luckily this year I was able to chat with my best friend Joanne in the UK while she was watching it. So I already have a pretty good idea who all the craziest people on there were. :) We had a fun conversation going while she was watching it and commenting on all the stuff that was happening. All the while discussing with Mike and our friend Kelly (who are both American) why the Eurovision song contest even exists and what the point behind it is. Not something easy to explain to someone not European. LOL.
Not too much else new really. Worked yesterday. Today we have the day off. It's a really dark, rainy day so we slept in very late. Been up for a bit now, took a shower and it's already almost 2pm. Where does the time go? Will probably head out for a late lunch/early dinner in a little bit and then come home and catch up on some of our recorded TV shows. We still have "The Office" and "Big Bang Theory" season finales to watch. We did watch the "How I Met Your Mother" finale on Monday.
One week to go until Memorial Day so next week will definitely be very busy at work. And then just a couple more days and I will be on a plane to Europe. Time flies. :)
Mail Update: Still need to mail those letters to: Lotte/Denmark and Laura/Spain. Owe replies to: Charles/TN and Tiffany/OK.
Posted by Hanna at 01:44 PM in Performances, Television | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Friday, May 17, 2013
Boston Mini-Break
A quick update on our 2 days in Boston. Drove up (about 2 1/2 hrs from where we are) Wednesday morning and came back yesterday evening. The drive up was pretty good, on the way back we got stuck in traffic for hours which wasn't any fun. But always seems to happen that way.
Had a great time during our stay though. Wednesday we had breakfast before we left Danbury, then drove to Cambridge to our hotel. From there we took the T over to Fenway. Had a quick drink at Boston Beer Works before our Fenway tour at 3pm. For any of my friends who read this and aren't from the US, Fenway Park is the oldest baseball park in the country (est. 1912) and therefore has lots and lots of history. It was interesting to walk around the stadium, listen to stories, etc. We also got to walk around inside the press box which was pretty neat. After our tour we stopped in the team store really quick and picked up a little shirt for Jackson (son of our Australian friends Nicki & Damien) whose 1st birthday is coming up very soon. :)
After that we had dinner at the Yardhouse (love those!!) and then went to the House of Blues to see Paramore. It was great to finally get to see them live. We (Mike especially) have been fans of them for quite some time so it was great to see them live. It's also amazing how popular they have gotten over the past few years. When we first started listening to them it was completely different. After the show we stopped in at the Yardhouse for another drink and late-night snack. Actually made it to "last call". Haven't closed down a bar in a little while. LOL.
Thursday morning we checked out at the hotel and then headed over to the zoo. Spent about an hour there. The weather was just gorgeous (80ies F = 26C) so it was nice to be outside and walk around for a bit. What a change too, because Wednesday it was much cooler, windy with showers in the afternoon. After the zoo we had lunch at a brick oven pizza called The Dogwood. After that it was time to head back home and after fighting all the traffic we eventually made it back to Danbury, just in time for Thursday trivia night. :)
Now it's Friday and back to work. Ugh. Working tomorrow, Saturday, too to make up for one of the days we took off. Well, oh well, can't complain too much since I'll be off to Europe in less than two weeks.
Mail Update: A letter is going out shortly to: Lotte/Denmark and Laura/Spain. Owe replies to: Tiffany/OK.
Posted by Hanna at 07:11 AM in Food and Drink, Music, Performances, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Mother's Day & other various things
And already Sunday again. Happy Mother's Day to all my friends who are moms or about to be moms. :) And of course especially to my mom. The picture on the left was taken last summer on our trip through the Provence region of France. What a fun week.
Nothing too much new with me. Starting to work towards Memorial Day at work, only 2 more weeks left to go. So that as always means more work and a busier schedule, trying to arrange everyone's deliveries, who needs what when etc. But the good news is that 2 days after Memorial Day I will be on a plane jetting away to Europe. So there is definitely something to look forward to there. :) Can't wait.
Yesterday, Saturday, we slept in since it was a rainy day (originally we had baseball tickets to see the Mets in NY but with the forecast we ended up selling them - wise choice, they lost miserably plus had a rain delay in the 9th inning). Went to the movies instead and saw "The Great Gatsby". I liked the movie but it wasn't amazing. I think I am just not a big fan of the director and his particular directing style. After the movies we went to Two Steps to hang out for a bit.
Today we are getting some errands done and then are taking the train down to South Norwalk for a late lunch at the Ginger Man. Looking forward to going back to that pub. Lots of different beers on tap, great food and a fun atmosphere. When we get back later we are going to catch up on some of our recorded shows. "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Office" are getting close to their season finales so I want to be caught up when that happens.
Mail Update: Owe replies to: Lotte/Denmark, Laura/Spain and Tiffany/OK.
Posted by Hanna at 11:41 AM in Family, Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Friday, May 10, 2013
The Dollyrots - check them out!
Here's a random post from me to break up the normal routine. Let's call it "Friday Fun". :) I am happy that it's Friday, the sun is shining and the weekend is just around the corner. Since I am in a happy/fun mood I thought it would be cool to share one of my new favorite artists with everyone. If you are friends with me on Facebook you have probably seen my random posts but not all of you are on there so I figured it couldn't hurt to make a blog post too. :)
My newest music discovery is a band out of Southern California called "The Dollyrots". They have actually been around and in existence for a while, their first album came out in 2004. Their sound is a mixture of punk/rock/pop and has some very cool loud songs but also some fun happy-go lucky poppier ones. They seem to be more famous with more exposure on the West Coast of the US so I thought why not try and give them a shout out on here to help them get more well-known in the rest of the world. :)
You can read a fun little bio here to learn more about them. My favorite song by them is "Rollercoaster"
Also check out "Because I Am Awesome" and a really cool acoustic cover of the song "Almost" by the band Bowling For Soup.
If you want to see a live performance by them and live in the greater L.A. area you can see them play with The Muffs in Long Beach, CA on June 22nd. You can check out the poster for the show/venue here.
If you are anywhere else in the world you still have the chance to catch a live performance online on May 23rd. Here is the link to their upcoming performance. Seems like they are going to be covering Beatles songs which should be a lot of fun.
So make sure to check them out and let me know what you guys think. :) I have a very reliable source who tells me Kelly is a super cool chick ;) so don't miss out and go click on some of my links.
Mail Update: Owe replies to: Lotte/Denmark, Laura/Spain and Tiffany/OK.
Posted by Hanna at 12:27 PM in Music, Performances | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Monday, May 06, 2013
Nature, Erik's birthday & more
Another nice and fun weekend. Saturday Mike went into work for 1/2 a day. I stayed home and caught up on some emails and other random stuff until he got home. Been fighting with a really annoying sore throat and cough for the past few days. So Saturday I had a lot of tea with honey to try and soothe my throat. You can see a picture of my lovely lavender honey from the Provence here. It's definitely been helpful, along with Ricola and Wicks 44 cough drops. I am hoping that this annoying cough goes away soon. I need my voice for my job so it's really annoying when stuff like this happens.
Saturday afternoon we went to TKs for Mike's nephew Erik's 21st birthday. Crazy how fast time flies. After TKs (yay free wings) we went to Two Steps for some more drinks. Shannon, Mike's niece and Erik's sister, joined us there as well. Had a fun evening.
Sunday we decided to go back to Fairfield and explore more trails at the CT Audubon Society. Had fun checking out some of the other trails. Not very busy either. The temps were only in the mid 60ies (16C) so colder than last week but it was sunny so while walking it didn't feel cold at all.
After our nature walk we went to lunch at Flipside in Fairfield again. Always enjoy that place. Had some yummy food and some mango margaritas for Cinco de Mayo. :) Then after getting back home we caught up on some more of our recorded TV shows with some cheese, crackers & olives.
Mail Update: Owe replies to: Tiffany/OK.
Posted by Hanna at 07:34 AM in Family, Food and Drink, Outdoors | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack