chuck-town

great weekend with friends in charleston. turns out i don't have a picture with all four friends, so i chose this one which equally represents both sides of the friend contingent.

having hastily checked the morning job listings i now must get changed so i can go to the library to pick up my harry potter book. i may be absent from functioning life for a few days until i get this book read! and if it gets spoiled before i finish reading i'll be so pissed.

who is buried in grant's tomb?

finally, the answer to the age-old question.



answer: grant and his wife, julia.


this (dark) picture was taken when i visited grant's tomb during my trip to nyc last weekend. i lived in ny for 5 years and never even knew it was up at riverside park. how horrible is that?

great long weekend

got back late from new york last night. actually i got back this morning, at a little after 2:00 am. my flight was late leaving laguardia, of course. and then i had to drive the 90 miles from charlotte back to columbia.

but all-in-all, it was a fabulous weekend. here are a few choice shots.

on sunday, mom and jim came in to jersey city and we hung out for a few hours. we had a great brunch at this awesome little cafe. they made a mean frittata!


monday night we had a little mini newman club reunion for a few folks who were around the city. it was really great to see everyone. and it was cool to take a walk through some of my old haunts, like the restaurant we ate at, dojo's.


after dinner on monday a few of us headed down to the mercury lounge because my cousins' band, gringo star, was in town and playing. they're always fun to see play, and i enjoyed hanging out for a minute. i will see more of them in the coming weeks.


more pictures at my flickr set.

jet-setting

so i'm out of town again. i guess i mentioned previously that i got a last-minute deal to nyc. so i'm sitting in my sister's beautiful apartment to quickly type a few words.

arrived saturday evening and was picked up at the airport by my good friend, melissa, and her husband. went to an old haunt to meet friends for dinner and drinks. yesterday was a family day. mom and jim came up and we had a great day just hanging out and catching up.

i still have another 2 days to go and most of that will be spent again with melissa. we may pop in tonight for a quick view of gringo star, my cousin's band. anyone in the new york area tonight, or in the south east later this week, checkout their website for tour dates and times.

on a side note, anyone who has not been to chris's blog. there was a good report on his dad. read here for more.

change is in the air

i have had this blog for like 2 1/2 years and i can't remember if i have ever changed the format. so i spent some time tinkering today.

i'm not 100% i like it and that i'll keep it this way. there are definitely some things i know i want to add, i just have to find the right picture or phrase or whatever.

but any comments or suggestions on format and style related to the new design of the blog are welcome.

ouchies

i guess i'm more out of shape than i thought. well, that's not really true because i knew i was out of shape but i've been trying to pretend that i'm not really that out of shape.

but i got off my butt yesterday morning and tried to kick my own abs* by doing a total body fitness video. it was pretty good and i got most of the way through it. but today my stomach, arms and legs are not happy. i know i need to do it more than once, but we'll see if i can motivate to do it again tomorrow...



*kick my abs! get it? that was a really lame joke they use in the video and it totally bothers me.

i'm probably crazy

i just booked a flight to nyc for the weekend.

arrive saturday at 5:40 PM. leave tuesday at 7:30 PM.

i know i shouldn't have. but i'm home alone and i am bored and lonely. i found an esaver and couldn't resist*. it's been 2 years so it's about time for a visit anyway.

nyc, here i come!


*i actually found an esaver but by the time i got to it they were sold out. darn continental! so i had a mini heart attack and then found another one, which i booked immediately.

vacation

i've been away from blogging for the past week or so because i was on vacation with some of the waldie side of the family. flew out from columbia last saturday morning but had a horrible time getting to phoenix. finally did arrive, 16 plus hours later and extremely happy to finally be there. my horrible flying experience, however, was nothing in comparison to my brother's family. it took them 2 days to get there so i didn't complain too much.

we all hung out on sunday and "rested" our road-weary bodies. "resting" meaning we went swimming at dad's and at the community pool.



we all had a great time and we even managed to get dad and lizzie to go down the water slides.



monday and tuesday were spent in the grand canyon.



despite severe temperatures and hordes of crowds, we saw some beautiful sights and even managed a short hike into a part of the canyon.

wednesday i came down with an awful cold so i missed out on visiting rawhide, a western town, and seeing holiday fireworks with the rest of the family. instead i stayed home-side for a much cooler and low-key 4th as i watched tv all day and slept.

thursday i was back in the groove again and went with the family to visit sedona. this was my first trip to this town. it was definitely a tourist destination but it had a beautiful backdrop. we took a pink jeep tour to see some of the mountains and natural beauty of the area. it really was a beautiful place and we all enjoyed bumping around on the rocks as we "off-roaded it."



friday i headed back home again and, luckily, my flights were all normal and everything went off, for the most part, without a hitch.

i am back now to the hum-drum of looking for a job and the normal everyday stuff so you'll probably start hearing about the farm again, since that's pretty much all i do of note these days;).