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Thursday, December 31, 2009
Happy New Year!
New Year's Eve already again and another year passed. Last year we were in Siesta Key, Florida enjoying nice warm weather, the ocean and palm trees. This year we are home in Connecticut in the cold and snow. Brrrr. I won't complain too much though because we just booked a 4-night trip to Puerto Rico for February. We will be there Feb. 7-11, spending our 9-year anniversary there. Time flies. You can look at the resort we will be staying at here. We found a great combo deal that included the resort and flight. Yay for another vacation to look forward to. :)
No huge plans for tonight. We will go out for an early dinner and head home when it gets too crazy. (the place we are going to turns into a club when it gets later in the evening). Will open some sparkling wine at home and watch the ball drop on TV. Hope all of you are having a great New Year's. Have fun and be safe. :)
It looks like I will actually have a 3-day weekend this week.Yay. I guess I'll take what I can get since I am working every Saturday in the foreseeable future besides this one so I won't feel too guilty. No plans for Friday but Saturday we are heading down to the city to see a play on Broadway. Will also check out the pond at Bryant Park. It's a new thing this year and looks pretty cool so we will go there and possibly Rockefeller Center to see the tree there (a yearly tradition but we haven't had time yet this season) and after the play we are heading to our favorite Italian restaurant near Broadway, Osteria Al Doge.
Short mail update for today. No letters have gone out. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Becki/KY, Charles/TN and Kimber/Canada.
Posted by Hanna at 03:59 PM in Holidays, Travel | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Belated Christmas post
As usual my Christmas post is a few days late. But here I am complete with our Christmas update, pictures and all. :)
Had a nice Christmas, opened our gifts with Mike's sister Kristina and her two "kids" Shannon (19) and Erik (17). I can't believe how old they already are. Definitely not in the kid category anymore. We had fun opening our gifts. Mike got me the most awesome gifts. A Kindle (for those of you not familiar with it, it's a wireless reading device, click here to read more about it), a digital photo frame and a book showcasing the 1000 best off the beaten path-trips all around the world. I will put our vacation pictures on the digital frame on my desk. I have a feeling I will never want to work again. :) Besides that I received tea, a tea mug, shower gel, lotion, ornaments and other fun little knick knacks,
On January 2nd we have tickets to a play on Broadway ("In the Next Room"). I am looking forward to that as well. Will be nice to see something on Broadway again. Haven't been in a while.
So all in all we are keeping busy. No real plans for New Year's Eve. I think we will just have a mellow one this year. Will see what happens. Might go out for dinner and then come home and watch the ball drop on TV at home.
Mail update. Letters are going out tomorrow to: Celia/MA and Lotte/Denmark. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Becki/KY, Kimber/Canada, Charles/TN and Nina/WA.
Posted by Hanna at 03:56 PM in Holidays, Travel | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Cats and Sunday afternoons
So we only ended up with about 6 inches of snow which compared to a lot of other regions on the East Coast wasn't a lot at all. But hey I am not complaining. I really don't need two feet of snow.
Had a good day all in all. Watched "The Grinch" (the Jim Carey version) which I haven't seen in ages. It's a fun Christmas movie and a nice thing to do with a cup of tea on a Sunday afternoon. Mike put the tree up so now we just need to decorate it. We might do that later, if not tomorrow at the latest.
Managed to unpack and do some laundry which is never any fun but of course has to be done. All of our goodies made it home safely which is a plus.
I also changed the bedset on our bed and put a wintery set on and of course both of the cats thought it was the best thing ever. (see picture) They love to sleep on anything new. Right now they are both passed out on the bed dead to the world. Silly little things.
Short mail update for today. Letter going out to Alex/Germany tomorrow. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Celia/MA, Becki/KY, Charles/TN, Kimber/Canada and Lotte/Denmark.
Posted by Hanna at 06:07 PM in Cats, Holidays | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Let it snow
Back in the US and next week is already Christmas. Time sure is flying. We had a really great time in Europe. I was super happy to see my friend Joanne again and also be able to meet up with a bunch of my Austrian friends. It was great to visit all the different Christmas markets, try the different kinds of punches (I had plum, amaretto, apricot, orange-mango, pineapple, wildberry, elderberry, apple, ...), pretend to be a tourist in Vienna and walk around looking at the sights. It was nice to be able to sit in the cafes, drink tea and relax and not have to worry about anything else. Just an all around fun vacation. The only bad part was that our time flew by so fast. And that I managed to gain 6 lb. but I guess that was expected as well with eating non-stop the whole time we were there. LOL.
Now we are back in Connecticut and back to reality. Work has been very busy but that was to be expected as this is always our busiest season. On top of that I am short handed but I am used to that by now so I know how to deal with it so it's ok. :)
Still haven't put up our tree at home. I think we will get it done tomorrow. As soon as we do I will post some pictures on here. It will be pretty Christmassy over the weekend as we are expecting a big snowstorm this afternoon. They keep changing the forecast but right now they are saying 8 to 12 inches. We will see what happens I suppose.
Short mail update for today. Letters went out this past Wednesday to: Jessica/DE, Sarah/Canada and Tiffany/OK. Also have a letter for Alex/Germany that needs to be mailed. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Celia/MA, Becki/KY, Charles/TN, Kimber/Canada and Lotte/Denmark.
Posted by Hanna at 01:46 PM in Austria , Food and Drink, Holidays, Travel | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Hello from Budapest
So here we are in Europe. Arrived on Friday and today is already Sunday night. Time is flying as usual. Spent some time with my parents at our house in Lower Austria when we first arrived and also met up with my friend Anneliese and visited a few Christmas markets (had some plum and pineapple punch). Then spent one night in Vienna hanging out at Crossfield's (a really fun Australian pub ... yes I know irony, an Australian pub in Austria *g*).
This morning we took the train to Budapest (about 3 hours) and spent the afternoon sighseeing. It was fun walking across the Chain Bridge (see picture) and exploring the Castle District. Really great views from up there!! The weather cooperated for the most part too. Tomorrow it's going to be a lot more cloudy and Tuesday it will pretty much rain all day, But I guess that will be a museum day and then at night we are heading back to Vienna anyway, And Wednesday my friend Joanne and her boyfriend from England already arrive. So yes,, we are keeping busy, :)
Short mail update for today. No letters have gone out since the last update. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Alex/Germany, Jessica/DE,Sarah/Canada and Tiffany/OK.
Posted by Hanna at 04:26 PM in Austria , Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
It's the season ...
It's definitely starting to feel a little christmassy even though I am not quite in the holiday spirit yet.Too much to do at work and errands at home etc. in preparation for our trip. But I have no doubt that the Christmas spirit will come as soon as we get to Austria and start going to the different Christmas markets. :)
In preparation for Christmas I am doing ok. I have all my Christmas cards done. The international ones went out yesterday and the US/Canada ones today. Also mailed the packages today so all set in the mail department. The US post office definitely made a profit on me again this year, between the 80'ish cards and 8 packages I mailed.
Most of my Christmas deco around the house went up on Sunday as well. Don't have the tree up yet but we will see if we can get that done before we leave. If not we will have to do it as soon as we get back. I will make sure to post pictures when it's all done so you can see. I am glad all the rest of my deco (incl. my Dickens Christmas village) is up though. It's definitely beginning to feel a bit like Christmas now. :)
Short mail update for today. Letters went out yesterday to: Charles/TN, Emilia/Finland and Celia/MA. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Sarah/Canada and Tiffany/OK.
Posted by Hanna at 04:40 PM in Austria , Holidays, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack