It is so foggy this morning that I could not even see the building across the street from my apartment. As I walked to work I could feel the mist in my throat as I was breathing. This is London Fog!!
I saw Love Actually last night and it was wonderful! I recommend it to everyone! The opening scene is at Heathrow and it is people arriving and running up and hugging people. Moms and daughters, husbands and wives, etc.... I was thinking YAY I get to do that in 2.5 weeks!! It really is a good movie and it is set in London at Christmas time so you can see what it looks like here.
Tonight is the RDCC (that is our little group) Christmas Party at a place called the Langley in Covent Garden. It should be good as it is the only Christmas party I am going to. The Nestlé corporate party is next Friday night but I will be on a plane for Prague so I can't go. (I would rather be on the plane!) I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas parties!!
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Well good news!! My goddaughters have a new brother! Kolbe Davison Weatherford was born on Saturday at 5:53 PM. He weighed 7lb 4 oz and was 19 inches long. Although he wasn't due until Christmas, he decided to come out early!! Congratulations to Chad, Michele, Ashley, Brittany and Kaylee!!
I accomplished a major milestone last night in the world of fitness. Luke would be so proud!! I am working towards a goal of being able to run for a full 30 minutes. I got from a runners magazine a plan to work my way up to that and it takes 10 weeks to do. This week is week 3 and I am to walk for 2.5 minutes then run for 5 and repeat this 4 times. Well I did it!!! This may not seem like much to some but when you have used athsma as an excuse from doing any sort of activity since you were young.. then you would understand how much of a mental breakthrough this is. The first time I finished the 5 minutes, I was already exhausted but elated, by the end, with only 2 minutes to go, I wanted to quit so bad!!! But I imagined Luke standing next to me telling me to just do it and stop whining about it. That was such an amazing feeling when I was done!! I will do it 3 more times this week and then next week I am to go up to running for 7 minutes!! I'll let you know how that goes.
I accomplished a major milestone last night in the world of fitness. Luke would be so proud!! I am working towards a goal of being able to run for a full 30 minutes. I got from a runners magazine a plan to work my way up to that and it takes 10 weeks to do. This week is week 3 and I am to walk for 2.5 minutes then run for 5 and repeat this 4 times. Well I did it!!! This may not seem like much to some but when you have used athsma as an excuse from doing any sort of activity since you were young.. then you would understand how much of a mental breakthrough this is. The first time I finished the 5 minutes, I was already exhausted but elated, by the end, with only 2 minutes to go, I wanted to quit so bad!!! But I imagined Luke standing next to me telling me to just do it and stop whining about it. That was such an amazing feeling when I was done!! I will do it 3 more times this week and then next week I am to go up to running for 7 minutes!! I'll let you know how that goes.
Monday, December 01, 2003
Good morning! I hope you all got your Christmas shopping done over your 4 day weekend! I had a good weekend! Saw Master and Commander on Friday, went to Phantom of the Opera (matinee) on Saturday at "Her Majesty's Theatre" and wandered around with Yasu, Mike and Marcio. Let me just say that I preferred the LA performace better.... We also went to Christmas in Leicester Square and Covent Garden. In Leicester Square there was a small carnival going on with rides and games. Marcio looked like he had never seen a game before!!
And for Sossi here is a picture of me (she said I don't put enough of me up...)
On Sunday we drove down to Portsmouth to the outlets. Gen I like our outlets better. I didn't end up buying anything at these because it was all shops like the Gap etc.. and I fugured if I was going to buy someone a Gap shirt for Christmas, I might as well buy it at home! We did have a very good lunch though at a place called Santa Fe. The restaraunt over looked the harbour so that made the trip all worthwhile.... well that and as we drove down we actually saw some hills!!! Wow!
Anyway, all in all it was a very good weekend! I am looking forward to Toni coming on Saturday and then Prague the following weekend and then home!!
P.S. Here is a pic of Nancy at the Hard Rock in Mexico! Glad to know she is having a good time!
And for Sossi here is a picture of me (she said I don't put enough of me up...)
On Sunday we drove down to Portsmouth to the outlets. Gen I like our outlets better. I didn't end up buying anything at these because it was all shops like the Gap etc.. and I fugured if I was going to buy someone a Gap shirt for Christmas, I might as well buy it at home! We did have a very good lunch though at a place called Santa Fe. The restaraunt over looked the harbour so that made the trip all worthwhile.... well that and as we drove down we actually saw some hills!!! Wow!
Anyway, all in all it was a very good weekend! I am looking forward to Toni coming on Saturday and then Prague the following weekend and then home!!
P.S. Here is a pic of Nancy at the Hard Rock in Mexico! Glad to know she is having a good time!
Friday, November 28, 2003
Well hello to the 3 people who are not shopping today and are reading my blog. Maybe 3 is even a bit high. Anyway here are the pics from Vevey.
I was walking home from the train station last night freezing because it was 2 degrees outside (that's about 34) and thinking "oh, grandma is basting the turkey right now..." I started thinking about the turkey and gravy and cranberry sauce and was getting sad. Not in a sad, wanna cry sort of way, but a pathetic, I want Turkey sort of way. I got my mail and went to my flat. I flipped on the TV and sorted through my mail. One envelope was from Nestlé so I opened it right away. Here is what was inside:
I almost cried. These made me laugh and made my day. Thank you Sossi, Katherine and Carolyn. These are now hanging on my wall. I also have a wall for all the cards I received here and I hung the one that I got from mom yesterday too. These things mean so much! :)
I was walking home from the train station last night freezing because it was 2 degrees outside (that's about 34) and thinking "oh, grandma is basting the turkey right now..." I started thinking about the turkey and gravy and cranberry sauce and was getting sad. Not in a sad, wanna cry sort of way, but a pathetic, I want Turkey sort of way. I got my mail and went to my flat. I flipped on the TV and sorted through my mail. One envelope was from Nestlé so I opened it right away. Here is what was inside:
I almost cried. These made me laugh and made my day. Thank you Sossi, Katherine and Carolyn. These are now hanging on my wall. I also have a wall for all the cards I received here and I hung the one that I got from mom yesterday too. These things mean so much! :)
Thursday, November 27, 2003
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!
I hope you are all thinking of me as you eat your turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and pie!! I will get back to my flat around 8PM, open a can of soup and curl up with my Carolyn blanket and watch some Little House on the Prairie. Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday so it isn't that big of a deal to not be home but it is the feeling that I CAN'T be home that makes it a bit harder. What helps is knowing that I will be home 3 weeks from tomorrow!!
Just a little Thanksgiving note.. a bit personal but I am sure you can relate. Living far away from your family and friends makes the feelings you have for them even stronger. You appreciate even more who you have (not what you have since most of it is in storage) in your life and those who were in your life in the past. Thanksgiving is the day that I take to recognize two very important people in my life. Since my father's mother died on Thanksgiving, I remember her and my grandfather by going to Forest lawn and laying flowers for them. Since I cannot do that, I will ask you all to take a moment and do something special for those around your Thanksgiving table. When you do, you can think of my Grandma Joanne and Grandpa Walden and that will be my flowers to them.
To Jamie, my mom, grandma, grandpa, Tom, Sue, Mike, Renee, Megan, Derrick, and anyone else I might normally see on Thanksgiving, along with all of the rest of my family and friends, I miss you all very much and wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving with all the trimmings!!!!
I hope you are all thinking of me as you eat your turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and pie!! I will get back to my flat around 8PM, open a can of soup and curl up with my Carolyn blanket and watch some Little House on the Prairie. Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday so it isn't that big of a deal to not be home but it is the feeling that I CAN'T be home that makes it a bit harder. What helps is knowing that I will be home 3 weeks from tomorrow!!
Just a little Thanksgiving note.. a bit personal but I am sure you can relate. Living far away from your family and friends makes the feelings you have for them even stronger. You appreciate even more who you have (not what you have since most of it is in storage) in your life and those who were in your life in the past. Thanksgiving is the day that I take to recognize two very important people in my life. Since my father's mother died on Thanksgiving, I remember her and my grandfather by going to Forest lawn and laying flowers for them. Since I cannot do that, I will ask you all to take a moment and do something special for those around your Thanksgiving table. When you do, you can think of my Grandma Joanne and Grandpa Walden and that will be my flowers to them.
To Jamie, my mom, grandma, grandpa, Tom, Sue, Mike, Renee, Megan, Derrick, and anyone else I might normally see on Thanksgiving, along with all of the rest of my family and friends, I miss you all very much and wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving with all the trimmings!!!!
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Good morning from Vevey, Switzerland!! Sorry I didn't write yesterday, had problems getting on a computer. Not much to tell though. It was very overcast yesterday so I didn't take any pics but I was able to take on this morning out my hotel window which overlooks the lake... for those of you familiar with Vevey, I am staying at the Hotel du Lac. It is a beautiful hotel and the room is very large. The only downside is that I think the bed is as old as the hotel!!!! On Monday night I did not sleep well at all!! So last night I looked around and found an extra duvet. I slept on top of that and that made all the difference in the world! I had gone to a pizza restaurant and used my handy translation manual and ordered in half french, half english. But at least I tried!! I was able to ask for the check in french and say the meal was very good! Let me tell you, I am really learning to appreciate people not knowing a language. It used to annoy me a bit in LA, but now, I will only try to be helpful as I can relate!! I am hoping to get some nice pictures today as it seems a lot clearer. Should be about 60 or so and tomorrow looks like it will be about 40 so I better get the pics today!!
Also I have looked around the staff shop. It is bigger than the one in Glendale and much nicer but since everything is in french, I don't know what to buy because I don't know if it has nuts or not!! So yesterday I bought a KitKat.
Also I have looked around the staff shop. It is bigger than the one in Glendale and much nicer but since everything is in french, I don't know what to buy because I don't know if it has nuts or not!! So yesterday I bought a KitKat.
Monday, November 24, 2003
WOW! We had such a fantastic time this weekend. The only way it could have been better is if Jamie could have been with me :(
Yasu had reserved a car so we were able to drive to our hotel and check in. It was early in the evening but already very dark and all the shops were closed. We wandered around for quite a while then settled on a small German restaraunt (all of the food seemed much more German than French.) The food was alright, nothing very exciting, but the place was very charming and the owner was very friendly. When Mike didn't finish his soup, the owner came up behind him and force fed the rest to him!! After dessert, Yaso had not finished his so the owner went and got a straw and tried to force feed him that too!! It was a memorable experience. We had sucha a wonderful time looking around and I was so excited to see it all in the daytime!
The next day we did all the required tourist in Strasbourg stuff like shopping (I bought a scarf, a necklace and a birthday gift for Gen.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEN!) We climbed to the top of the cathedral and saw the astronomical clock do its thing. I had a cheese crepe.. yummy and then we had lunch. I don't know how else to describe the lunch than to say it was probably one of the worst meals we had ever had (we all agreed on this) The service was terrible, took forever and the food was just plain BAD. On top of all that, it was very overpriced! I had ordered a steak with mushroom sauce. What I got was steak with some slimy mushrooms on it. The steak itself didn't taste awful but it had a strange taste to it. Mike tried it and agreed, then he ate one of the mushrooms and said it tasted like fish!! So Marcio and Yasu tried the mushrooms too and agreed, Yasu said it tasted like sardines!!! Nasty! Mike and Yasu had ordered sausages and what they got was to Oscar Meyer hot dogs and some frend fries. Marcio had ordered turkey and he got deep fried chicken. The whole meal cost us about $100!!! When the waitress came we told her about the fishy mushrooms and said she shoudl tell the cook, she said she didn't know. (Marcio knows both French and German and he even explained to her and she just kept saying she didn't know.) We asked her if she had tried the food adn she gave us a funny look and said " I don't eat here!" So after that we decided not to eat in Strasbourg any more.
So that night we drove to Baden-Baden, Germany!!!! Can you imagine driving to Germany just for dinner! We even were on the autobahn! Baden-Baden was absolutely beautiful. All the shops were closed (which was propbably good!!) But looking in the windows, you could tell it was a very upper class area. It seemed like the Beverly Hills of Germany. We found a pub type place and I had sausages, sourkraut, mashed potatoes and german beer called Bitteburger. Everything was excellant! Probably one of the best meals I have had since moving here! The we had dessert... ice cream with a hot raspberry sauce and an order of sliced apples that were deep fried and served with cream poured over them.... oh wow.... heavenly. I would definately like to go back there sometime (during the day of course)
The next day we drove to Colmar (still in France) It is known as one of the best preserved towns in this part of Europe. Alot of the buildings are from the 1500's and it is the town where the guy who designed the Statue of Liberty was born. I guess the Germans never bombed it because it was too close to Germany and no one else did because it wasn't in Germany. Anyway it was beautiful. We were fortunate enough to be there during the Christmas Markets so it was pretty much decorated like a European Christmas Disneyland. I had a lovely eclaire and a tarte flambee... it was just wonderful all around and I couldn't wipe the smile from my face!!
The last place was Haut - Koenigsbourg Castle This was a very nice castle and very interesting too.
So that was my first official trip!!! I hope all the rest will be just as good.
I found out on Friday that I will be going to Vevey today! I am going to learn a program called LoadRunner. This should be good as it will be very nice to be responsible for something. I will be the only person here that will know the program (they assume since I was the last person to get here, I will be here longer than most people!!) So I am looking forward to it and to my first trip to Vevey!
Only 26 more days til I fly home!
Yasu had reserved a car so we were able to drive to our hotel and check in. It was early in the evening but already very dark and all the shops were closed. We wandered around for quite a while then settled on a small German restaraunt (all of the food seemed much more German than French.) The food was alright, nothing very exciting, but the place was very charming and the owner was very friendly. When Mike didn't finish his soup, the owner came up behind him and force fed the rest to him!! After dessert, Yaso had not finished his so the owner went and got a straw and tried to force feed him that too!! It was a memorable experience. We had sucha a wonderful time looking around and I was so excited to see it all in the daytime!
The next day we did all the required tourist in Strasbourg stuff like shopping (I bought a scarf, a necklace and a birthday gift for Gen.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEN!) We climbed to the top of the cathedral and saw the astronomical clock do its thing. I had a cheese crepe.. yummy and then we had lunch. I don't know how else to describe the lunch than to say it was probably one of the worst meals we had ever had (we all agreed on this) The service was terrible, took forever and the food was just plain BAD. On top of all that, it was very overpriced! I had ordered a steak with mushroom sauce. What I got was steak with some slimy mushrooms on it. The steak itself didn't taste awful but it had a strange taste to it. Mike tried it and agreed, then he ate one of the mushrooms and said it tasted like fish!! So Marcio and Yasu tried the mushrooms too and agreed, Yasu said it tasted like sardines!!! Nasty! Mike and Yasu had ordered sausages and what they got was to Oscar Meyer hot dogs and some frend fries. Marcio had ordered turkey and he got deep fried chicken. The whole meal cost us about $100!!! When the waitress came we told her about the fishy mushrooms and said she shoudl tell the cook, she said she didn't know. (Marcio knows both French and German and he even explained to her and she just kept saying she didn't know.) We asked her if she had tried the food adn she gave us a funny look and said " I don't eat here!" So after that we decided not to eat in Strasbourg any more.
So that night we drove to Baden-Baden, Germany!!!! Can you imagine driving to Germany just for dinner! We even were on the autobahn! Baden-Baden was absolutely beautiful. All the shops were closed (which was propbably good!!) But looking in the windows, you could tell it was a very upper class area. It seemed like the Beverly Hills of Germany. We found a pub type place and I had sausages, sourkraut, mashed potatoes and german beer called Bitteburger. Everything was excellant! Probably one of the best meals I have had since moving here! The we had dessert... ice cream with a hot raspberry sauce and an order of sliced apples that were deep fried and served with cream poured over them.... oh wow.... heavenly. I would definately like to go back there sometime (during the day of course)
The next day we drove to Colmar (still in France) It is known as one of the best preserved towns in this part of Europe. Alot of the buildings are from the 1500's and it is the town where the guy who designed the Statue of Liberty was born. I guess the Germans never bombed it because it was too close to Germany and no one else did because it wasn't in Germany. Anyway it was beautiful. We were fortunate enough to be there during the Christmas Markets so it was pretty much decorated like a European Christmas Disneyland. I had a lovely eclaire and a tarte flambee... it was just wonderful all around and I couldn't wipe the smile from my face!!
The last place was Haut - Koenigsbourg Castle This was a very nice castle and very interesting too.
So that was my first official trip!!! I hope all the rest will be just as good.
I found out on Friday that I will be going to Vevey today! I am going to learn a program called LoadRunner. This should be good as it will be very nice to be responsible for something. I will be the only person here that will know the program (they assume since I was the last person to get here, I will be here longer than most people!!) So I am looking forward to it and to my first trip to Vevey!
Only 26 more days til I fly home!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)