Blog Abandonment [updated] Saturday, May 23 2009

So I’ve basically abandoned this blog.  I can offer several excuses, but they would be excuses.  Mostly, there hasn’t been much to write about lately.  I have travelled to Europe and back, so I figure I’ll start there.

My husband and I flew into Madrid two weeks ago.  We found our way to our hostel thanks to a very helpful clerk at the Metro station. Checked in at the hostel and went back out on the town.  We were struck right away with how clean the city is.  There is an army of street sweepers emptying trash cans, picking up trash, and washing down parks and streets.  There was very little trash on the ground or dog crap anywhere.  There was plenty of graffiti and old buildings and scaffolding around but it was still clean.  We walked until our feet hurt and then walked some more.  We saw some beautiful buildings and fantasized about getting an apartment overlooking the Palacio Real.

The views and photo ops were great but mostly we just felt completely at ease there.  We visited the Prado Museum, the Plaza de España, saw the outside of the Palacio Real, and another museum whose name escapes me at the moment.  We saw original Dali paintings and gorgeous masterworks at the Prado.

I will be writing more about the rest of the trip later and posting some pictures.

Update: I failed to mention el Parque del Retiro and the quirky statues there.  Something else I forgot, there was one moment that shows you just how different the vibe was from here in the States.  We were sitting in the park in front of the Palacio Real just taking a break from the heat and giving our sore feet some time to recover.  I looked up to see an older woman waving me over.  I went over there confused as to what she wanted.  She needed help with her grandchild’s stroller buckle.  She couldn’t get it unfastened and wanted desperately to pick her up.  I unbuckled it for her and went back to my husband.  It was a bit disconcerting for me.  I’m used to people not asking each other for help because they’re afraid of being mugged or worse.  In retrospect

Below are some pictures from the Madrid portion of the trip:

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Supergirl dress relinquished Wednesday, Sep 10 2008

I finally got around to uploading pictures of my niece in her Supergirl dress.  I am so happy to say that it actually fit great!  She loved it and couldn’t wait to wear it!  Look at how excited she looks!

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The Turtle and the Princess Tuesday, Sep 9 2008

I am back from my trip to sunny south Florida.  Hurricane Ike missed our area completely, thankfully.  I was visiting my family (mom, little sis, little bro and his wife and my niece and nephew).  While I was watching my niece on Saturday while we waited for my mom’s class to finish, my niece demanded I write her a story.  Her terms were simple either make something up or write her part of a story I already knew.  I was a bit intimidated at first to make something up as she put it, but hey I’ve written a whole novel and the 1 person who read it said she liked it.  Why not make something up?  Below is a transcription from the handwritten story.  I only wish I knew how to draw!  Anyone out there want to provide the illustrations out of the kindness of their hearts?  Yeah, I didn’t think so, oh well.  Hope you enjoy!

Once upon a time there lived a young princess named Rain. She was the most beautiful princess in the entire kingdom, but she had very few friends.

One day while she played by the lake, a turtle swam up to the shore. The princess was delighted, a new friend for the lonely princess.

She walked up to the little turtle and said, “Little turtle, will you be my friend?”

The little turtle said, “I would love to be your friend, but I under a terrible curse.”

“A curse, oh no!” cried the little princess, “How can I help?”

“You will have to find all of my brothers and sister and bring them to this lake. They have been turned into a duck, a swan, a frog and a toad,” said the little turtle.

“Where can I find them?” exclaimed the little princess.

“They are scattered all over your kingdom,” said the turtle.

“I will find them!” she promised.

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Going to Sunny – um more like stormy SoFla Friday, Aug 29 2008

I’m headed down to South Florida next weekend, and frankly, I can’t wait.  It would be nice to have beautiful bright sunny weather to look forward to after a non-summer here in the Seattle area, but thunderstorms are just as good.  We don’t get really good thunderstorms west of the mountains very often.  I miss those storms tha lasted for days with a deluge coming down, the sky lighting up with arcs of lightning and booms of thunder.  If TS Hanna makes landfall, it will probably be while we’re there.  It won’t be the first major storm I’ve been through.  My first was Hurricane Andrew, then Hurricane Irene.  The last one I flew into while I was trying to plan for our wedding.  I ended hiring the photographer and DJ at the only place that was actually open!  Boy did I end up regretting that.  I honestly can’t remember the name of the storm just now.  The only thing (aside from having to settle for wedding services) I regretted was that there were so many closures, we couldn’t get the food we wanted.

Honestly, I wouldn’t care what we got to do just as long as I got to see my niece and nephews and the rest of the fam.

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Vancouver shots Tuesday, Mar 25 2008

Here are some of the pictures I promised:

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Vancouver, BC Friday, Mar 21 2008

Meet Quatchi!  I fell in love with one Vancouver’s Olympics mascots.  Unfortunately, it is a way too expensive a toy, and I couldn’t buy it.

Thursday, we strolled through Robson Street, the shopping district of Downtown Vancouver, and walked all the way to Chinatown.  We ate at Hon’s Noodle House, yummy!  I will post a link to the photos taken on this trip later.

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