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Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Boston Recap

I am back. :) Sorry for being absent for a week but been very busy with my friend Lena's visit.

It's been lots of fun, had a great visit. It's always great to see old friends again, especially when you don't get to see them that often. Went to work for a little bit on Friday and then joined Lena at the local mall for some shopping. Around 11:30 we left for Boston which was only a 2 1/2 hour ride - not bad.

We stayed at the Hyatt in the Financial District which is a really nice hotel and located right downtown near all the sights. Got a great deal on Hotwire, definitely recommend Hotwire to anyone.

Friday we walked around for a bit, explored Quincy Market, looked around in some shops, walked down to the harbor and then over to the Prudential Tower. Boston is definitely a good walking city. We went to the top of the Prudential Tower (50th floor) which has a great view of the city. I am afraid of heights so these things always freak me out but the view was great and worth the fear, I guess. :)

Saturday we walked the "Freedom Trail" which leads you by all the sights. It's such a nice city to walk around in, all the buildings are so pretty, it's almost like an open-air museum in itself. We visited Paul Revere's house, toured the USS Constitution and took the ferry back to the harbor when we were done. Explored the Beacon Hill neighborhood afterwards and had dinner in the North End (Boston's Little Italy).

Sunday we went to the Museum of Fine Arts which was a really nice museum. Then took the subway out to Cambridge to explore Harvard Square and all the shops in that area. We were extremely lucky with the weather as it was sunny all weekend and just started drizzling when we left Boston on Sunday around 7 pm.

Monday I had to go to work but Lena spent some time at the mall. After work we drove her down to New York so she could check in at her hotel. She's staying in New York for the remainder of the week attending a school project she's doing. Apparently there are 3000 students from all over attending it. It's a simulation of the UN of some sort where every group of students represents a country during fake UN meetings. I am sure I am not explaining it quite right but it sounds very interesting. :)

Now it's back to the daily grind for us. Although I have another friend, this time from England, visiting over the weekend. We are getting together on Saturday in NY for pizza. Yum. :)

PS: Promise I'll post our Boston pictures as soon as I have some free time on my hands.

Posted by Hanna at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Welcome Lena !

My friend Lena arrived from Germany today. Been busy early this week getting everything ready, cleaning up the house and all.

I am really glad she is here. It's so much fun to see her again. Haven't seen her for over 3 years now I think. The last time I saw her was for our wedding in the summer of 2001. So it's been a while.

Lena and I know each other from spending a year together at EF in Santa Barbara, California. It's basically a year spent abroad studying English together with a lot of people from all over the world. I made a lot of friends from different countries that year and had a really great time. It was a great year. I lived with an American host-family which I am still in touch with and has become like a 2nd family to me.

Anyway, I am really glad to see Lena again. I have forgotten how much fun we have had together in the past. :) We are going away Fr-Sat-Sun to Boston. I am looking forward to that. Will be fun to spend some time sightseeing, shopping and just hanging out.

I'll post after the weekend. Hope everybody is having a good week. :)

Posted by Hanna at 09:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Hockey Night

  Friday night we went to a hockey game at our local ice arena. It's the first season for our local team, the "Danbury Trashers". For anyone not familiar with Danbury, the team is owned by the local garbage company which explains the logo. :) I actually think the mean looking garbage can is pretty cute. They also have a mascot who looks just like that and is named Scrappy.

We had a good time even though the team lost against their archrival the "Adirondack Frostbite". (update: they won the next game on Saturday !). The team is hugely popular and definitely a great success for its first season. They are actually in second place in their division, behind their rival Adirondack. I have never been to a hockey game so it was a fun night. Had some nachos and enjoyed watching the players. It's definitely a rough sport though I have to say.

Had to work on Saturday which is never any fun. But I managed to get through it and we went out to dinner after I got out. Went to a local restaurant called "Two Steps" which serves part American, part South-Western cuisine. Very yum.

Today I got up late and can't believe it's already 2 pm again. I am supposed to clean out and de-clutter our bedroom today ... let's hope I get some things done. I am just in a lazy mood right now and feel more like curling up with a cup of tea and a good book than cleaning out the bedroom. Well ... I'll at least try and make a good effort to get it done. :)

Posted by Hanna at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Spring Cleaning

Even though it really doesn't feel like spring I decided to do a little "spring cleaning" today on my day off. Okay, it wasn't just for the purpose of spring .. a good friend of mine from Germany will be here in less than a week so I figured it would be a good thing to clean a little. :)

I spent most of the day in the kitchen, cleaning counters, oven, microwave,.... I also decided to get rid of most of our potted plants. As much as I love flowers and plants I just don't have a green thumb. I don't think I have ever been able to keep any plant alive for a long period of time. I was able to save one, a cactus-type plant. I guess they might be more resistant to my treatment. :)

Not too much else new really. Did some procrastinating, surfing the web, as well. Also spent a significant amount of time making out a grocery list and planning out dinners for next week. My new graphics card came today so maybe I can persuade Mike to put it in for me later. If not, there's always tomorrow. :)

Posted by Hanna at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Hump Day

It's Wednesday. Seems like this week won't end. We got more snow yesterday which of course was no fun. I am starting to get really sick of the snow. It's March. It's supposed to be nice. Right ? Well, I'll stop complaining now. :)
Nothing much new with me I guess. This week has been about the same as usual at work. Busy and hectic. There's always something that needs to be fixed, always somebody that wants to complain about something and someone that doesn't like a policy of mine. Oh well, I guess that's the story of my life.

... After re-reading this I realized my post sounds pretty depressed. I am really in a not so bad mood. I am at work, waiting for Mike. He's at one of the owner's, trying to fix some computer problems he is having at home. So I decided to write a letter, play some Tetris on my cell phone and now update my blog. I am hoping we can go out to eat when he comes back to pick me up. I am starving. :)

Posted by Hanna at 06:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Sims 2 University

So that's how I have spent my weekend - glued in front of the computer screen playing the newest explansion pack for the Sims - University. :)

As you all probably know I am a huge Sim fan and very addicted to the game. Saturday I was lucky enough to get the expansion pack and of course installed it and spent the rest of the day and most of today sending my little Sims off to college.

I am still figuring out all the details and probably need a new graphics card as well (good thing I have a tech-savy husband) since the game keeps crashing on me every once in a while. All in all it seems like a cool game though and I am having fun sending my Sims off to class, having them work at the coffee shop and playing in a band.

Gonna have some yummy pizza for dinner now and will probably return to the game for a bit afterwards. And tomorrow it's already back to work again. Why do weekends fly by so fast ? :(

Posted by Hanna at 06:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Dinner + Movie

Hitch I am in a happy relaxed kind of mood right now. Just got home from a night out with my good friend Sharon. I enjoy our girl-nights out. We usually do dinner and a movie.

Went for Chinese tonight which was very yummy as always. Did some shopping (I found a real bargain on some stationery - I love stationery *g*) and then headed for the movie theater. Went for a good chick flick which is always fun.

I wasn't a 100 % sure I'd love "Hitch" but I have to say it pleasantly surprised me. I really liked the movie. It was funny but also really sweet. Will Smith is very very cute I have to say. :) And good looking. :)

So now I am in a relaxed mood, pretty happy and all. I also love my new cell phone. Mike left me a message on it as he was driving home and even though I didn't check my voicemail until I got home (lesson #1 -> check voicemail after leaving the theater from now on) I thought it was very sweet. What can I say, I am silly like that. :)

Posted by Hanna at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack