My House is a Mess (and other brief updates)!

I am no longer Okinawa Andi, officially and hopefully for the rest of my life.  A new blog will soon be established with a more appropriate name.

I am living in a house that I have dreamed of living in for the last five years.  It has a solarium (fancy-talk for a passive solar sun room).

Last week, I realized my life-long dream of being on-stage with David Copperfield.  Skeeze or not, the man looks good.

If you can't tell, there are about a million and a half things going on in my life right now and the most pressing one is that my belongings (which I haven't seen since April 5th in Okinawa) were delivered and the delivery guys just left.  The bed is put together and the kitchen is unpacked.  Now I just need to wash everything in the kitchen, find the bed sheets and a home for everything. 

Oh, also the TV needs to be put up and the Wii needs to be installed as ASAP as possible.  Parks & Recreation from Netflix won't watch itself.

The Vacation Rundown.

We love Canada.  We love it.  I would live there.  That, essentially, sums up the awesome that was our vacation.  We spent almost as much time in transit as we did vacationing, but I supposed that’s okay.  We got to see a lot.

Our first stop was Montreal, where we did a significant amount of shopping.  THERE WAS A TRI-LEVEL GAP STORE.  THAT WAS SELLING BRAS FOR $8 EACH.  That alone was worth the whole vacation.  I was in heaven.  We went into three different Roots stores about five times over the course of the vacation just because I knew I needed some Roots-y goodness, I just couldn’t throw down $70 on a hoodie.  I relented when the price fell to $45.  Still a little guilty about it, though.  Anyway, this is us on Mont Royal:

After a few days in Montreal, we headed to Quebec City.  Quebec City was beautiful.  It was a big city that has small town charm.  There is a large section of QC “inside the wall,” a former military fort.  Everything in that area has a lovely old European feel to it.  The food was pretty good and Matt got his second taste of his new favorite desert, sugar pie.  On our walk around town, I took this picture especially for Annie:

Because you should not use Comic Sans if you expect anyone to take you seriously.

We had planned on two full days in QC before heading to Boston to see Evan, but the nor’easter had other plans.  So, we left Quebec City after a day around 1630 (when it was pitch black) and got to Evan’s place about 0100.  And then Evan passed out the Zimas we really started having fun.  Oh, Evan.

If you don’t remember Evan, he was practically Matt’s live-in boyfriend during the World Cup last summer.  He’s also pretty lucky because there are two, maybe three of Matt’s friends that I like enough that I would interrupt our vacation to spend a few days with.

Since most of Boston was snowed in that first day, we pretty much had the city to ourselves.  We tromped around in the snow, learning Boston facts and trying not to lose feeling in our extremities.  After a lovely progressive dinner of clam chowder (omg, the waiter said “chow-dah”) and oysters (and a shrimp burger for me), we tra-la-la’d off to TD Garden to watch the Celtics beat the Kings.  I think it was the Kings.  Is there a Kings in the NBA?

Our second day in Boston was awesome because Evan gave us a sweet tour of his alma mater, Harvard University.  He even kindly endured my questions, such as “So, did they sort you into houses (dorms) by random, or did they have a sorting hat?” and “Would Professor Snape put a spell on you if you didn’t finish your homework?”  But seriously, look at these pictures – Harvard is the closest thing the U.S. has to Hogwarts.

Finally, we returned to Montreal for some hardcore shopping and the Biodome.  All in all, a spectacular vacation.  Matt says his favorite thus far, although my vote still falls with Buenos Aires.

FInally, A Kindle.

As I suspected, Matt got me one for Christmas.  I love it so very much and I have been playing with it all weekend.  I've already downloaded more (mostly free) books than I can possibly read.  It is as wonderful as I has hoped. 

andi <3's kindle

I hope your Christmases were equally as thrilling.

Bring it on, Christmas.

-Christmas tree up and decorated? Check.  Witch candy canes from last year? Check.
-It's a Wonderful Life watched by the light of the Christmas tree?  Check.
-Hopes of ever owning a Kindle dashed? Check.
-Holiday parties avoided? Super-check.
-Christmas music in the car? Check (six weeks ago).
-Warm beverages daily?  Check.

Well, I'm ready for Christmas.  What about you guys?

Vacation Part 3: Florida

I am working my way through vacation, but we still have at least two more chapters.  Please bear with me.

Let me start off by saying the weather in Tampa was so much more pleasant than I was expecting.  We got to spend lots of time at the pool without feeling all sweaty by the time we got back home. 

One of the first things I did when I got home was to go to the ladies meeting at church with my mom.  I go with my mom to the ladies meetings every time I'm home and it's like going to visit with 10 awesome grandmas.  I got so many hugs.  You have no idea.  It was awesome.

On Friday, Matt and I took Mom on a road trip to Gainesville to check out the University of Florida.  It was nice to just walk around campus with Mom while Matt did his research.

We went to our second baseball game in a week at Tropicana Park.  We picked blueberries and we go to see my grandparents.  We spent lots of time at the pool.  It was wonderful and relaxing to just be with my family.  I can't wait to get back :)

I've Been Dying for a Little Creativity.

So, I just bought these dress patterns from Vogue Designer Patterns for $5.75 each.  And four bucks shipping.  So I am feeling pretty awesome about that.  I can't wait to get them and get my stitch on.

Buenos Aires.

And now the post you've all been waiting for - Mid-Deployment Leave! WHAT UP! (Yeah, I've been watching too much How I Met Your Mother. I love you, Barney Stinson).

Well, this vacation started out in the worst possible way: with an e-mail from Orbitz telling me that the longest flight of my incredibly long trip was canceled. After over an hour on the phone and many tearful explanations, I was rerouted and an extra connecting flight was thrown in there. I ended up getting there closer to when Matt got there than had been planned. Be still and know.

We spent our first week in the Recoleta area of BsAs at the Park Plaza Unique Hotel. We ate steak. Lots of steak. On one of our first days we took a short bus tour that gave us ideas for the sight seeing we did. We went to the Museo de Belles Artes, featuring both international artists and Argentine artists. We spent some time at the Recoleta Cemetery, where Eva Peron is buried. We spent a heck of a lot of time talking about food and looking for places to eat and eating. On Saturday we went to the art fair and bought our first piece of artwork from Don Roberto Solima.


[Click here for more pictures that I am too lazy to re-upload]

Our second week we stayed at a fantastic Bed & Breakfast in another part of Buenos Aires (I don't remember which part because I have been home for so long - I know I should have made this post right she I got home). We spent a lot of time watching movies (Sherlock Holmes, Valentines Day and Avatar) and a lot of time window shopping and probably should have spent more time sight seeing. We're such home bodies, even on vacation we just want to chillax and not do anything.

We had an amazing time; it was so great to be together again. Knowing he'll be home soon was a good feeling too. Keep his group in your prayers big time and I'll let you know when he's home safely.

Things I Plan to Do More Often.

-Read my Bible
-Go to church
-Think happy thoughts
-Eat healthy food/make more healthful decisions
-Hang out with people
-Update my blog

Songs that WILL NOT be on my Christmas playlist this year.

-I'll Be Home For Christmas (most specifically: Josh Grobans's version - not to be played under any circumstances)
-All I Want For Christmas is You
-Blue Christmas
-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
-Happy Xmas (War is Over)

Songs that will be played often to make up for the lack of the songs above:
-Purple Snowflakes by Marvin Gaye
-Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree by Cyndi Lauper
-Soulful Christmas by James Brown

Relocation.

I have a new job. Well, really, it's the old job, just at a new location. A new, happier, less stressful location. Cheers!

Things that I Read Every Day.

-All the Facebook status updates I can stand (good thing I only have 113 friends).
-As much Yahoo news as I can get away with at work.
-Annie's Blog
-The Happiness Project
-All of my e-mails (even if I don't always respond to them).
-Job postings on island.
-Working on reading my Bible everyday.