Yes we can!

Hope and Change have been 8 long years missing. I'm proud to be an American!!

Big changes a'happening...

Wow, I've logged on and was told my last published post was July 17! And there are several new faces on Facebook who told me they only joined because I've been so bad about blogging. (Sheepish shrug) Sorry!

So let's see, what's been happening...Wickus and I celebrated our first anniversary mid-August, a week after his surprise birthday party, and between those two events he ran off to Rome to get his tourist visa for our upcoming trip to the US. (Rome because the London embassy wouldn't give him an appointment until October which is slightly too late for our trip that starts this Thursday evening.) Luckily the process in Rome was very smooth (South Africans are often denied several times before they secure an American visa), and the visa is good for multiple entries for a 10-year period, woohoo!

For our anniversary, he made reservations at a fantastic Italian restaurant in Bermondsey...it was a perfect little place with a wonderful atmosphere, dee-licious food, and for the first hour we had it to ourselves. He gave me some beautiful earrings that he picked out himself, and a Nintendo DS Lite...very cool and very Wickus! And I am now addicted to a game called Animal Crossing. I gave him some artwork for his walls, which he always talks about wanting. I took a close-up picture of a snarling cheetah in South Africa which was his favorite, and also the one I got the most comments on from people who have seen the pictures. I had it blown up onto canvas, 2 foot by 2 foot, in a sepia color and separated into 4 square panels and voila! Artwork :-) And I also played a song for him from my a cappella group in college where I sang the lead-- luckily, he loved it.

We have both been busily working, trying to tie things up before our trip to the States. I have successfully interviewed for and taken a job on a community stroke rehab team, which is a promotion for me. I'll be starting that job as soon as I get back, so I'm trying to tie up all the loose ends on this job before we leave. This has all happened so quickly that my supervisor, who's been on annual leave for the past two weeks, doesn't even know I won't be returning to work with her after my holiday. The new job means I now have to get a British driving license and a car. Aside from the fact that this will mean I get to do work I love to do, it would be more trouble than it's worth with all the associated costs. But I've chosen a very reliable make and model that should cost me very little in maintenance, gets good MPG, and is in a low tax and insurance bracket. And I've got a car fund now so that by the time I've got my license I'll be ready to buy.

The housing market here is starting to plummet, so W and I are also talking about buying...the plan was to move in together in October or November (renting), but it may just make more sense to buy in terms of an investment. He makes a good salary, and I am what they call a "key worker" which gives some nice advantages in terms of getting a mortgage.

So lots of changes going on around here. I am very very much looking forward to going home again, the week in July was just a big tease. It's been too long since I've last seen the Aveyards so the wedding in Denver is going to be a blast! I'm very excited to show Wickus some different sides of the US (Denver, NYC, Pennsylvania for ex-housemate Nicole's wedding), and very excited for him to meet the most important people in my life (Aveyards, Heilalas and Burks, Viv and Eric, Jenn and Chris, and Carla, Brian and Brett). He's already met my parents, my sister (who will also be home while we are!) and the Florys. Can't wait, just 4 days now!

Love to all

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

Surprise, surprise, I've been terrible about my blog for several months now. I'm headed home tomorrow for a whirlwind trip, including good old Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont, all within 8 days. Yay!! Summer and sunshine here I come! Boy have I missed you! I promise I will be on here when I get back the week of July 28th. Much has been happening, and there is much to tell ;-)

I can't, I can't, I can't stand losin'...

Can't stand losin' you!

We said goodbye last night at Hyde Park to one of the all-time great bands, The Police. As I'm sure a lot of you know, they reunited for one last tour, and we saw them finish off last night with a bang in front of 35,000 fans! It was an amazing show, the energy was incredible!!! And I have to say, in spite of the salt and pepper beard, Sting still looks finger-licking good, and he knows it (he wore a muscle shirt--tasteful, but still a muscle shirt). Guess yoga really does pay off ;-) And wow, his voice sent shivers down my spine. You haven't heard Sting until you've heard him live.

We were also treated to performances by The Bangles, Starsailor, and KT Tunstall. I think Starsailor has a new fan in W, who had never heard of them before. The lead singer has a great voice, and was obviously enjoying himself up on stage. We sang our lungs out for most of the afternoon and evening and the weather was definitely cooperating with a fair bit of sunshine amazingly enough! But as W put it, The Police just blew everybody else out of the water.

Next up, Jack Johnson and Ben Harper !!! on Wednesday in Hyde Park again. Let's hope the forecast of heavy showers changes by then...generally the forecasts here can only be trusted on the same day, and sometimes not even then, so there's good reason to hope ;-)

Running on Empty

I'm feeling a little sensitive this week. Although I am getting 8 hours of sleep a night, for the past 3 days I've been waking up seemingly from a deep sleep. I'm groggy, disoriented, in the middle of crazy disturbing dreams, and generally very unhappy. Not how you really want to repeatedly start your days.

I've been poked and prodded at for poor posture (belly dancing teacher, physio, fellow OTs), which is fine when it's one at a time. I've had a very sore coccyx bone, from what I don't know. You'd think I must have had a nasty bump to cause such pain, but I can't remember anything. And because I sit with my pelvis in a posterior tilt, the "slump," I'm in pain most of the time unless it's a really soft cushy chair. Now don't be smirking out there, most people sit like that. I'm going to start using a wedge cushion to force me into an anterior tilt so I can sit pain free until the problem is gone. Let's see, I also don't stand straight, don't use my core stability muscles to hold myself up against gravity, have one leg slightly shorter than the other (which tilts and rotates my pelvis)....the list goes on and on. It's been a week of people pushing me into different positions, and told to do it that way from now on, and it's just too much to work on at once!

I've got a big meeting with the Head OT tomorrow, which has little butterflies in my stomach, but there were big butterflies and outright knots already in there from other things going on, but it was just that little bit extra to upset the scales.

Right...I think I'm going to call the "Waaaa"mbulance on myself, as Cogger used to say. Sorry about that.

Housemate Nicole's hen do is coming up this weekend, Saturday night. Unfortunately, the forecast is for heavy rain all weekend, but then again they never get the forecast right here, so hopefully she'll have a clear warm night. Her mom and little brother arrive tomorrow morning, so she is in full tour guide mode already, having spent the week packing things up. When they leave in about a week, she'll only have two weeks left before moving back to the States permanently. Still doesn't seem quite real yet, even though her room is half empty.

Wooohoooo!

"I'm in the money, I'm in the money, I've got a lot of what it takes to get along!" That's partly in deference to my own musical theatre obsession where for a lot of things in life I find myself singing show tunes in my head...but it also reminds me that Aunt Sue and Emma are in NYC this week, attending as many Broadway musicals as possible. Ah, a trip after my own heart. I dragged my family to four musical and dramatic productions during our first trip to London. As I recall it was actually something like 4 shows in 3 days. Anywho, congrats on graduation Em, hope you are loving the Big Apple!

Back to the whole hullabaloo--I have won the housemate lose weight contest! Which means the kitty goes to me, albeit I don't really expect to ever see the money that one particular housemate owes, ahem!, as she has not paid into it at all and represents the largest portion of money that should have been in there. Seriously though, I am proud of myself that the only time I gained weight was whilst on holiday in SA, and I have so far lost 8 pounds overall. I'm not actually finishing now that our bet is over, I have my own goal weight set to reach and maintain, and I'm happy that along the way I'm re-educating myself about healthy foods, healthy portion sizes, and learning to recognize my bad habits.

Go Allison, it's your birthday!!!!

Meerkat Manor!

Kung Fu Panda

Well-measured words

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7434740.stm

Amazingly, given the rapid decline of America's influence in the international playing field, a lot of eyes around the world are following this election closely. Some sobering and thoughtful reflections, although the author stops short of making a prediction...

Oooh, they make me so mad sometimes.

Sometimes you've really got to have some chuzpah (or however you spell it) to be an Occupational Therapist, because it feels like everyone else is trying to tear you down. Or I guess tear you down isn't the right way to put it, but they just sort of dismiss you, like their service is valuable but yours isn't. My supervisor has had a history of struggling with the physio outpatient service...not that they are overtly separatist or rude or mean or anything, but there have been issues in terms of who gets new referrals. Consultants and their teams of doctors have a bad habit of using an OT referral form, but writing "hand physio" as the reason for the referral, so even though it is an OT referral some of them have been "stolen" so to speak by the physio team in the past.

I recently had a lady call in to say she wasn't going to keep her next appointment, and in fact would not be coming for any more sessions with me because her physio had told her she doesn't need to see me anymore. Although there is some crossover, the OT hand therapy service would not exist if we were nothing more than a duplication of physio services! Regardless of my own opinion on the obvious differences between our services, in the NHS, anything that can be cut, will be cut. I have also recently taken on a patient only a year or two older than me who has already had physio for awhile, been discharged from physio, and was only given a referral to see me by the doctor because she wasn't happy with the end result, and he didn't know what else to try. It was kind of like, well, we've done everything we possibly can for you, and out of sheer frustration finally said, well, there is an OT, I suppose I could refer you to her.

The icing on the cake was a phone call this morning from a lovely patient...she saw the specialist hand surgeon yesterday. He discharged her and told her she's got about as much back in her arm as she is going get. So she asked about her OT sessions and he told her not to bother! She was a bit thrown off and rang me today to ask about it. Since we see people for as long as they are making progress, and when I saw her two days she had improved, I told her she was welcome to continue coming, which she has decided to do. But honestly!!! Your self esteem could take a dive if you weren't the type of personality to get fired up by this kind of thing instead. Why on earth do you make referrals to a service that you don't think is of benefit to your patients? And what business is it of yours to decide when a patient should finish therapy?! Once a referral is made to me, that patient is mine as much as yours, and what I do with them is in conjuction with what you are doing, true, but also separate. Agggghh!!!!!!!!

Incredible!

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/05/30/brazilian-tribe.html

What would they think of New York City?

I hadn't realized there were any tribes still in existence completely unaware of the rest of the world, let alone 100 of them.

Ok, maybe just one

I lied, I'm posting a photo. Pikkewyn!! (That's penguins in Afrikaans.) I can't wait for you guys to see some of my wildlife pics that I took with my SLR! And I still have a couple of rolls to develop yet.

Back in the UK

We landed yesterday morning around 7am, following a 12-hour flight where I did not sleep at all. So essentially I pulled an all-nighter. Neither did Wickus, and believe me, the two of us trying to navigate the tube back home was a comedy of errors, as neither of us could think straight. I think we finally got into bed at 11am and were knocked out for 5 hours. W bounced back, but I was a complete zombie all day. And only better by about half today, as I made many various small and big mistakes at work. However, I did manage to get through belly dancing class after work, and felt energized for about an hour afterward. I have re-gained 4 pounds as I did not regulate much at all for those 2 weeks, although I think I should be able to lose them again rather easily. And as is generally my luck, there has been beautiful hot sunny weather here in the UK whilst I was gone, and I have returned to gray skies, rain, and cooler temps. The weather cooperated in South Africa for about 2/3 of our trip though, so I suppose I can't really complain. I'm rather depressed at the moment, and would happily turn around and go straight back if someone would just pay for my ticket and give me lots more annual leave ;-)

I am busy putting tons of photos on facebook tonight, and will pick and choose some to put on here as well. But not tonight.

One more day

Does no one stock bloody 35mm film anymore?!!! Granted I hardly ever use it myself, but still! I should be able to find it when I need it! My lovely SLR camera has come out of the closet with its lovely long distance lens, that I unfortunately didn't realize I needed and therefore didn't buy until after my family's first safari in December/January 2002/2003. I'm so excited to use it, and I can't find the right film anywhere, grrrrrr. Boots only has 200 speed, Tesco only has 400, and I have yet to find any place else that even carries it. I would love to get 60 or 80 speed, but would settle for 100. My last options are the airport, and then South Africa itself.

Yes, it is finally here. Tomorrow night we take off for Cape Town. Finally, finally. Although first I have to get through a day packed solid with patients...I have patients right up until 4:30pm, which means I have to drag my suitcase to the hospital with me, so I can get straight on the tube as soon as I finish my last notes (which realistically is probably 5-ish). I've had 10-thousand To-Do lists floating around (slight, but only slight exaggeration), and at the moment am listening to Michael Buble for stress relief.

But everything is coming together--I packed my suitcase previously, or at least most of it, and just need to go through tonight and hopefully pull a few things out. Mom and Dad's retirement thing is settled. Oh, yes and Weight Watchers is going fabulously well, 6 pounds lost so far, three weeks in. Which means that thus far, I'm winning the little jackpot we've got going in our house (the one who loses the most by Nicole's Hen Night in June wins the money we've all contributed whenever we gain weight). However, I figure if I'm lucky and keep a close enough eye, the best I can hope for after two weeks on holiday is to stay the same. More likely I'll gain a pound or two, but I will do my best. Knock on wood, I'm the only one who hasn't gained yet, but consistently lost. Oh yes, and W and I have booked our tickets for a US trip in September. He'll be joining me at an Aveyard wedding in Denver, as well as spend some time in NYC, and meet a number of my friends, including hopefully the Burks and Heilalas. Sorry guys, I know you were really looking forward to spending some time with him in Vermont in July, and he did intend to come, but the situation is beyond his control with work permits and what not as he changes to permanent status with Deutsche Bank.

Possibly more later, but if not, I won't be online again until May 14 or 15. Apparently the internet is ridiculously expensive in SA. Weather forecast is absolutely beautiful at the moment, I'm crossing my fingers it stays that way! Much love to all, Allison :-)

"To Make You Feel My Love"

When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world is on your case
I would offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love

When the evening shadows and the stars appear
And there is no one to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love

I know you haven't made your mind up yet
But I would never do you wrong
I've known it from the moment that we met
There's no doubt in my mind where you belong

I'd go hungry, I'd go black and blue
I'd go crawling down the avenue
There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do
To make you feel my love

The storms are raging on the rollin' sea
Down the highway of regret
The winds of change are blowing wild and free
But you ain't seen nothing like me yet

There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do
Go to the ends of the earth for you
Make you happy, make your dreams come true
To make you feel my love

Alternative Exercise

I went to my first belly-dancing class tonight. What a blast! Unfortunately, I can't seem to get my arms and hips to be doing two different things in a graceful, coordinated way. Ok, to toot my own horn, I did pretty well for a complete beginner, but I can only seem to do the arms or the hips right, not both right at the same time. But I figure after a 7-week course of classes, things are bound to fall into place. Well, 5 weeks anyway...I'll miss the first two while I'm in Cape Town (tonight was a free intro class). Now, I just need to find one of those small triangular scarves with bright coppery discs all along the edges....

Next Wednesday is coming up way too fast. I'm now making 2-3 To-Do Lists every day as I try to keep up with everything I need to take care of before I leave. Agggh.

I should be an events planner, I really should.

Whew! The planning is finished! And I'm not just referring to Cape Town here...but since I've started off there, we went back and forth this weekend, and finally settled on an itinerary we were both satisfied with. I think Wickus may be even more excited than me at this point because when he goes home, he normally stays in Cape Town, but we will be going out to the Eastern Cape, as far as Knysna! We'll be staying two nights in Tsitsikamma National Park at a romantic tree-top log cabin, two nights at a game reserve (with two game drives per day, as well as horseback riding and a cheetah experience at their breeding centre), two nights in Hermanus with W's family (a relax at the beach weekend) and the rest in Cape Town itself. I managed to talk W into hiking up Table Mountain rather than taking the cable car (hee hee), we have a day set aside for working our way through the wine farms, and we'll be going to Boulders beach to see and walk among the penguins!!! And that's maybe half of our plans. Hard to believe it's only 9 days now until we leave...

I have also finished planning (with Tressa's valuable input of course) our retirement surprise for our parents. They know some of what is happening, but I've still got several tricks up my sleeve. I'm really quite chuffed (er, patting myself on the back) with the end result, and I hope it's an amazing experience for them.

Right, it's already past bed time, and I've still got a new Scrubs episode to watch, now that the writer's strike is over and Season 7 episodes have started arriving via iTunes again, so "Th-th-th-that's all for now folks!"

Sud Afrika

So it is now only a week and a half until we leave for Cape Town! We are currently planning out our days (although of course we don't expect it to go according to plan all or necessarily even most of the time). Our current bone of contention is whether to go to Addo Elephant Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape. It was his idea initially, I found an unbelievable deal for 3 nights that is luxury accommodation, all meals and drinks plus two game drives a day, all included-- it's only available to SA residents, but I think W could get away with that ;-) But anywho, he is now balking, and I think I've figured out that the real reason is that it's a 6-hour drive. To me, totally doable. Not so much to him!

Claire and Nick's Wedding

...Was at a beautiful old converted house and barn in Coopersale Essex. The bride looked beautiful, the groom was estatic (awww) and they are now in Mauritius for 2 weeks, the lucky devils! We had a fantastic time at the reception.

Sweaty from dancing all night long, but very happy. It was a great reception-- Claire and Nick had a guy who sang Rat Pack songs for the first hour, and then it switched over to a DJ.

Is is spring anywhere?

Hmm, I haven't put any pictures up from Budapest, or from Paris for that matter, which was after Budapest. I've just updated Facebook with Tenerife pics, so I'll put some of those on here this week for those of you who avoid Facebook like the plague ;-)

Tenerife: We absolutely loved it. We had brilliant weather for the most part, in the 70s the whole time, which in the direct sun was actually quite hot so it was nice when the clouds rolled over to cool down a bit. There were some threatening-looking clouds that hung over the interior of the island the whole time and the Teide volcano, but it stayed dry and sunny along the beaches. The only time we didn't have sun was when we drove up to the tiny village of Masca, nestled on top of Los Gigantes cliffs. Talk about your terrifying drive! This road was only big enough for one car, but was meant for traffic in both directions, and it was built with the tightest hairpin turns humanly possible, one after another after another after another...for approximately half an hour. W and I both agreed it was the most dangerous drive either of us had ever been on, and would have been even if the road wasn't wet. Thank goodness I didn't run into any of the big tour buses while I was driving! Unfortunately, Masca, which has only been open to tourists for a few years now, did not have any shops selling t-shirts with the slogan, "I survived the drive to Masca." Anywho, everyone was so friendly and bent over backwards for us the whole time...we had a lovely waitress at a tapas restaurant tell us where the Canarian "rave" was going to be, a big party essentially that pops up several times a year on different parts of the island for lots of dancing and good music. With every meal when you paid the bill, you got a free shot. We really liked one restaurant in particular and when we came back a second night they welcomed us like family. And the biggest one of all: we booked a catamaran cruise to see whales and dolphins on our last day, but got ridiculously lost on our way to the port and arrived in time to see our catamaran sailing away. Our faces just dropped, so the guy took pity on us and offered to take us in the Zodiac to catch up with the catamaran. What a ride!!! Wickus had no idea what a Zodiac was, and was a little anxious about equipment getting wet (such as the video camera), but ended up loving the brief, extremely bumpy high speed trip to catch up. As we climbed on board, everyone had turned to watch and wanted to know how much extra it had cost us to have the Zodiac included. W announced in a rather loud voice much to my chagrin, "Nothing, you just have to be late!" We had a brilliant hotel at Playa la Arena, a black volcanic beach, which I loved but W thought looked dirty. It's funny the sand there was softer, so to speak, than the sand on the black volcanic beaches in Hawaii. I don't know if Teide is older and so the sand has been ground down more or what, but there was a definite difference. Incidentally, my souvenir from Tenerife is a classy pair of round volcanic stone earrings, outlined in silver (on sale for half price, Mom). Neither one of us wanted to leave, it truly was a little 5-day slice of heaven, and a break I desperately needed from the UK weather.

But I'm back now...and counting down the days (30) to Cape Town. I am gaining confidence as a hand therapist, and am seeing all my clients now on my own, although I have yet to find a cure for my sister.

Buda...Pest

Budapest was lovely, although freezing cold on Saturday, around -5 or -6 that night. We had an amazing hot and cold breakfast buffet at our hotel every morning, and certainly were not lacking for food at other times. We ate in several old cafes, one being the famous Gerbeaud Confectionary (coffee and cakehouse) that has been around for more than 100 years. It was beautiful with chandeliers and all. We went on a tour of the state opera house, where they were busily finishing the set for Carmen, which was to open that night. It was stunningly gorgeous! The Royal Opera House in London has nothing on Budapest! But then again, it is known as one of the most, if not The most, beautiful opera house in Europe. We explored a labyrinth underneath the castle complex by wandering around in the dark with an oil lamp...it was quite spooky in places, and lots of fun. We had an unbelievably delicious dinner Saturday night, where we also tasted the Takaji wines that are made in Hungary, and were serenaded with traditional music by a violinist and pianist. And finally, we spent a lot of time in the thermal baths attached to our hotel. Mmmm, talk about your relaxation therapy. Well, except for the plunge pool. There was a 36 and a 38 degree pool, a plunge pool, and a steam room, and then a big indoor heated swimming pool in another room. We also opted for a "medical massage" one of the days...a lot of people come to Budapest for the healing powers of the thermal baths, and therefore other services have grown around it, like doctors and rehab and dentistry and cosmetic surgery, etc.

So this is my last week on the acute stroke unit :-( And unfortunately, I have caught another bad head cold, so I am really struggling to get through it, rather than enjoying it. I don't understand, this is the second winter in a row where I get sick and then better only in time to get sick again. Or sometimes even catch one cold right after another. I guess I'm not used to the strains of germs they have over here, or something!, and am looking forward to the health benefits of moving back to the States end of October/November.

Happy Valentines!

Catching up

I've had some nice catch-up chats with people lately...Viv and Jo in particular. I was meant to see Kristy in person, as she came over to England for four days, and I was perfectly happy to go out to Oxford to see her. However, her sister (who lives in Oxford) surprised her with a trip to a cottage on the Scottish border, so I didn't get to see her at all, and she flew back home today.

I've also been busily working away, trying to tie up my caseload for the end of my rotation in a week and a half now, and finish off projects that my supervisor will need to see at my review on Monday. Put that together with a student who is finishing her placement at the same time as I finish my rotation, and a caseload with patients who need tons of social input, and you have a fairly stressed out bunny, as they would say here.

But tomorrow I'll take a break...W is taking me to the opera, so we are having our Valentine's night tomorrow. We are going to see Mozart's Magic Flute at the Royal Opera House. Hope I like opera, as it's 3.5 hours long!

And on Friday we take off for Budapest. Now that's some serious relaxation, as they are well known for their thermal baths ;-) We'll be staying at the Danubius Hotel Gellert, which includes free entrance to their thermal baths (among the most famous in the city). A little bit of trivia which I didn't know but some of you might-- the city is divided by the Danube river, so there are actually two parts, Buda and Pest.

Varekai

We went to see Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday. A friend of Wickus' had booked a box, we had to have someone let us in with a key and everything. Very posh. Although perhaps not so much as what I now know is coming up next week...for a special Valentines night, although it will be on Wednesday instead of Thursday, W has booked tickets for the Magic Flute at the Royal Opera House. Now, what does one wear to the opera??

View of St Vitus Cathedral, towering over Prague Castle Complex

Another castle entrance

Similar to Buckingham Palace guards, they aren't supposed to move or make sounds, but we heard coughing and laughing!

One of the entrances to Prague Castle

Franz Kafka museum

He was born into a Jewish family in Prague, and spoke and wrote in German. The story of his life is absolutely fascinating, and gives a fair amount of insight as to why he wrote the things he wrote.

The Astronomical Clock

Virtually impossible to read, it tells so many different kinds of time. Most of the guided walks of the town start here, so that you can have an explanation of what exactly the clock is telling you. Every hour on the hour, three small windows open up, and you see the 12 Apostles rotating through the windows, plus a golden cock that crows at the end. Not as exciting as it sounds actually.

St Nicholas Church, Old Town Square

The Men's Toilet...

In a small cafe on Old Town Square. Well, Prague does seem to have become a hot spot for stag do's. And no, I'm not the one who took this photo ;-)

Birthday Flowers

It's ridiculous how happy flowers can make me. Aren't they lovely?

Praha

We got home around 2am last night, so I'm absolutely exhausted and not capable of downloading, editing and publishing photos tonight. But we had an absolutely amazing weekend, in spite of the cold weather. We both fell in love with Prague, and did not have nearly enough time to even scratch the surface of explorations there. We have decided we are definitely going back for another weekend within the next few months. The bigger things that we did included a three and a half hour walking tour, the Franz Kafka museum, taking the funicular tram up to the Petrin tower, a mini-version of the Eiffel Tower, to look out over the city, went to a classical music concert in one of the old palaces, and went birthday gift hunting among the garnet stores. Our 5-star hotel was in the famous Nerudova street, and is a restored 14th century house...we were in a junior suite on the top floor, so we had triangular ceilings with gorgeous exposed wood beams. (I had booked an "executive room" at an unbelievable off-season price, but when we got there, they told me they don't actually have executive rooms, so we had been automatically upgraded.)

We've decided to go to Budapest for Valentines weekend, will have to go to Paris to update W's Shengen visa in late Feb/early March, still need to reschedule my Barcelona reunion with Kavitha, and have two weeks in Cape Town for W's brother's wedding in May to look forward to, but we will definitely get to Prague again in the near future! I'll have more to say about Prague with the photos, but it is just stunningly gorgeous, and chock full of culture and history to explore.

Oooh, and almost forgot, Kristy's coming over for a visit in two weeks or so, woohoo!!!

Buon Compleano

Haven't really had a night at home this week, aside from Monday, which Sheena and I spent catching up with Nicole (who had just returned from three weeks in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam). She's the color of a golden nut. I'm desperate to get to Thailand now. Hey Viv, what happened to our Philippines/Thailand adventure??

Last night I was out for my friend Chantale's leaving do...she is spending two and a half months traveling (Shanghai, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, San Diego, and I can't remember what all else). She'll then end up at home in Montreal. We were at this bar called Fuel in Covent Garden, which is pretty average as far as a Covent Garden bar goes, except for this one booth they have called "Fish Tank." It seats about 10 people, and is separated from the rest of the bar by 3 steps down. It's decorated in various shades of turqouise and blue (you'd love it, Jinny), and is bordered on the one end by, wait for it....a big salt-water fish tank. We had a lots of fun, I met up with some people I met over a year ago on a Halloween weekend in Kent with Backabush and I didn't realize they were friends with Chantale. It was sad as well though, because of course we were saying goodbye to Chantale. But I'll probably be the one she sees again first, as my plans for this year also include moving back home. So more like an "au revoir" than a real goodbye.

Had a good night for my bday on Saturday, got a massive, gorgeous bunch of flowers from W, and we had a fantastic meal at Home. I definitely want to go back there. It was the best steak people had ever had, the best duck people had ever had, and the crab tagliatelle was amazing as well. We then danced at the bar below the restaurant, and finished off in the wee hours of the following morning at a hotel bar. I don't have many pictures from that night-- actually none at all, the few we took are on Jules' camera-- but I still have more from Italy to put up. And the flight to Prague is tomorrow!!! I'm so excited, we have booked an absolutely amazing hotel, and I've been making all sorts of plans based on other people's recommendations, and a guide book I got at the library. It will be a great finish to my birthday week ;-)

Verona

Part of the town wall, at dusk.

L'Arena

in Verona. Unfortunately, most of the town was chiuso (closed) on New Year's Day, including the famous L'Arena (behind us), and even Giulietta's courtyard at the Capulet house (I've never seen it closed before, it's just a courtyard). Fortunately, there was some sort of festival going on, with lots of street performers and music :-)

One thing we had plenty of on this trip....

vino, vino and more vino!!! At all dinners, all lunches, and even one breakfast. Most of it was homemade wine from various members of Rita's family, but we did buy some at the Soave castle cantina (above), and Dad bought 3 bottles of amarone from the famous Tomasi family cantina. I did smuggle in one bottle of homemade sweet amarone, shhhh!

Olive oil!!

This is the little shop where they sell the olive oil that they make on site.

You've heard of wine tasting...

...this is olive oil tasting. Yes, you read that right. We tried their best quality olive oil, their best-selling olive oil, a sweet olive oil for fish, and unfiltered olive oil. Can you say "digestivo?"

Bottoms up!

Lots of conversation and laughter at the agriturismo

Tressa...

...chowing down on some meat at the agriturismo ristorante. Wickus could hardly believe she used to be a steadfast vegetarian. Agriturismi get heavy subsidisation from the government, but 80% (I think) of what they serve must be grown or raised on their own land in order to qualify for subsidisation.

New Year Notes

Can't believe it's 2008. Last year absolutely flew by. It just seems like there's never enough time to get things done, not to mention do the things I want to do. Got a great start on getting back to work on Monday. This should be prefaced by saying that I went to see "I Am Legend" on Saturday night...although I did not have nightmares per se, I did not sleep much at all on Saturday or Sunday night thanks to my overactive imagination. Every time I closed my eyes, scenes from the movie started replaying in my head. This has an impact on the fact that Monday morning I was 50 yards down the road before I realized I couldn't see anything, and had forgotten to put contacts in. Then I arrived at work a little bit late, having gone back home for the contacts, and discovered I had forgotten a student was starting with me for a 7-week placement. Oops.

Moving on, birthday plans are underway. There's a museum exhibit at the Barbican I've been wanting to go to, will pick a date for next week and get tickets tomorrow. I have already booked tickets for Afrika! Afrika! (has thus far garnered rave reviews on its European tour, and is compared by some to Cirque due Soleil) on Friday the 18th of January-- I got a great 2 for 1 deal with amazing seats in a VIP box right in front of the stage. It will be coming to the US eventually, so if you're interested check this out http://www.afrika.pte-ag.eu/
On the actual day, the 19th, we'll be spending the night at a trendy bar/club in Shoreditch (no lofty plans this year, I learned my lesson well last year that no one has any money left mid-January). Somewhere in there I hope to have a meal at the Cinnamon Club, as that's been on my mind for a while now. And then on the 25th we head to Prague for the weekend (yes, home of garnet jewelry ladies and gentlemen, how appropos), hurrah! As you can see, I have also learned the lesson well of how to make a birthday stretch out as long as possible. (Insert Big Cheeky Grin)

And finally, below you'll find a couple of photos to get started. These are from Christmas week in London. We did a lot of fun stuff, from afternoon tea at the Ritz to The 39 Steps in the West End (opening soon on Broadway, go see it, very funny). Will get some photos up from New Years week in Italy soon, as well as some other stuff I've got saved up. We had a fantastic time in Italy, where I definitely ate and drank like an Italian (yes, it's true they have wine for breakfast, lunch and dinner)-- you can't refuse, it's rude, they all make their own red and white wine, dessert wine, limoncello, grappa, etc What else, oh yes, and I helped to make the sausage and salami. Explanations to come with photos.

To all of you for 2008: Buon Anno, Tanti Auguri!

Bierodrome

Family and friends for a fun Christmas meal on the day my parents and Tressa arrived. If memory serves, Mom was falling asleep on my shoulder.

The 2007 Johnson Family Christmas Card

Or 2008 New Years card if you prefer, as they haven't been sent out yet. Lol. Hey, we were busy making merry in Italy, so we'd have something to write on the card!

Christmas Card, Take 2