Jenn

Monday, August 15, 2011

Weekly Goals-Second Week


Goals for the week!

Ok. Here’s an update on last week’s goals.

·         Finish packing the kitchen by Wednesday. I know this might sound like a silly goal, but you haven’t seen my kitchen! Done! Here’s a thought though: if you pack up your toaster, don’t wonder why you can’t locate it the next morning. 

·        Find and buy a pair of khaki pants for work. Didn’t happen.

·        Have three sugar-free days this week. Sure as heck didn’t happen.

·        Workout 5 of the 7 days. (This is usually the normal, but last week I only made it twice and I felt like crap for doing so.) I made it to the gym twice and ran outside once. The rest of the week was devoted to moving. I do think that the three days I spent moving stuff outside in the heat should count!

·        Find the time to do something just for me this week. HA! I wish.

Hopefully I can do better this week. Last week was completely nutso with the move but I am confident that things can be a little more normal this week.

Goals for the week of August 15-21st.

  • Workout 5 days! We’re in the process of switching gyms, so this will most likely be cardio in the new neighborhood.
  • Change our address with the chronicle, banks, credit cards and license.
  • Unpack the guest bathrooms
  • Find a pair of khaki pants for work. (Trying this again!)
 I'll keep you updated!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Epic European Adventure, Volume 6A


The Highlands! (Please hum the theme song from the show Highlander while reading this post.)

Hugh decided that he wanted us to take a day trip to see the Highlands in Scotland. We discussed renting a car and driving on our own, but after looking at the landscape (rough inclines) and thinking about driving a standard on the opposite side of the road; we decided to go on a tour. Hugh looked around on Tripdavisor and discovered a tour called “The Hairy Coo”. I’m not joking. It’s supposed to be a play on words in order to sound like “hairy cow”, not a porno tour. The way this tour works is that it’s actually free. They simply work on a tips only basis, and they had good reviews. Hugh reserved us seats for a tour and we were set.

Now before I begin telling about all the cool things from the Highlands you’ll have to take a step back in time to the night before we left for the tour. We had to meet at a specific location between 8:30 and 8:45 on Friday morning. The location was on the Royal Mile, and we were staying about 2 miles away, down a very large incline. The night before we decided to go down the street to a nice little pub called The Orchard. It had great drinks and an incredible atmosphere. We thought we’d get a light dinner and one drink before turning in early since we had the tour in the morning. Well…..we ran into the guy that owns the property where we were staying and he invites us to join him. He starts buying us beer and the time slips by. Hugh and Stephen then move on to some whisky, and even though we know we have to get up early we just decide to go with it. We were on vacation and having a good time. It was after midnight when we all three walk the 300 yards back to where we’re staying. As we’re falling into bed, I set the alarm on my watch for 7 a.m. local time.  

I wake up to Hugh telling me that we overslept like crazy and that I have 20 minutes to shower and get ready before we have to leave. I stumbled into the bathroom trying to force myself awake and take the world’s quickest shower. We leave with Hugh wearing the camera and I have the backpack with our rain gear and other stuff.

 This is the street view of the hill. We walked to the red "X" and then would take a quick left and walk up an even STEEPER hill to the Royal Mile. I NEED all of you to understand that this is more of a taxi situation.

We start up the hill. It’s lined with businesses on both sides, but it’s very steep. Hugh informs me that we have fifteen minutes to get up the hill and find the place that we’re supposed to meet the tour. I want to remind you that it’s in the upper 40’s and we are literally half-running up this hill. Let me share some dialogue:

Jenn: “Shouldn’t we take a taxi?”

Hugh: “No, we can make it. We just have to run a little bit.”

Jenn: “Um. I’m sweating and it’s cold out here. I didn’t know we were working out this morning or I would have brought my inhaler.”

Hugh: “I don’t want to spend seven pounds on a three minute taxi ride.”

Jenn: “@$#% @%$$*@@$%)%”

We make it up the hill with about 7 minutes to spare. At this point I’m thinking that The Hairy Coo better be worth all of this effort. I was confused and sleepy. I couldn’t figure out why my watch alarm hadn’t gone off, and I was pissed that I’d just taken a shower to simply sweat like a man before we even left town.

We locate the meeting place, but it’s closed. In fact, other than a few delivery men around, everything is closed. We start wandering around thinking that we must have the wrong address. We were approached by a woman that asked us if we were lost. Let me share our lovely conversation with her:

Nice Scottish Lady: “Are you guys lost? Can I help you find something?”

Hugh: “Yes! We’re looking for so-and-so pub on so-and-so street. Can you tell me if this is the right place?”

Nice Scottish Lady: “This is the right place. What time are you supposed to be there?”

Hugh: “The tour information says that we have to be there between 8:30 and 8:45. We’re starting to get worried since nobody seems to be there.”

Nice Scottish Lady: “Well, um…it’s only a quarter to six.”

Hugh: “WHAT?”

Jenn: (in background starts to laugh hysterically)

Nice Scottish Lady: “Yes, it’s actually only a quarter to six. You’re quite a bit early. This is the right place though.”

YUP!! That’s right. We were a bit early. Hugh had woken up to go to the bathroom and decided to check the time on our iPod, which was set to Houston time. He did the math in his head and decided that we had overslept. MY BANKER HUSBAND apparently had a small problem adding. Instead of waking me up at 7, he woke me up at 4. We had less than three hours of sleep and were standing in the middle of the street pouring sweat in the cold. Hugh started apologizing like crazy. I wasn’t mad at all; it was obviously an honest mistake. However, I was a bit pissed that we hadn’t taken a taxi. We ended up walking around and exploring and then sitting in a Starbucks to have a hot chocolate and warm up. While we were sitting there my watch alarm starting going off. 

I simply let it beep until it had finished, looked at Hugh and said, “It’s time to get up.”


Side note: We’ve told a few people this story and everyone asks the same question. “Why didn’t you realize that it was earlier since it was obviously dark outside?” Well- it’s not dark outside for more than about 4 hours in Edinburgh during the week of the Summer Solstice. It’s very similar to Alaska where they get periods of all light and darkness. In fact, if we’d traveled a few hours north we’d have been in Aberdeen which stays light all summer long.

I'll do the actual post on The Highlands tomorrow. I'm exhausted from reliving this situation. ;)

Weekly Goals- First Edition

A friend of mine started doing a weekly goals list every Monday on her blog, and when she asked if anyone was interested in joining her plan I volunteered. I love to make lists and cross things off as I accomplish them, so I’m hoping this will help me stay motivated.

Here goes: Goals for the week of August 8-14.

• Finish packing the kitchen by Wednesday. I know this might sound like a silly goal, but you haven’t seen my kitchen!

• Find and buy a pair of khaki pants for work.

• Have three sugar-free days this week.

• Workout 5 of the 7 days. (This is usually the normal, but last week I only made it twice and I felt like crap for doing so.)

• Find the time to do something just for me this week. :)

There they are! I’ll post new goals next Monday and update on the ones from this week. Have a great week!

Love,


Saturday, August 6, 2011

Moving Update: A really long Saturday!

We move next Saturday. I’m really excited and ready to get into the house. So….a cat happened to live in the house before us. It was a short stay for the cat (I’ll refer to him as Mr. Whiskers even though I’ve never been pleasured to make his acquaintance.) While this normally wouldn’t be an issue I happen to be married to a man that has a serious cat allergy. And by cat allergy I mean: Please pass me the Benadryl pez that I can swish down with my epinephrine martini.

No problem! The house has hardwood floors and ceramic tile in every room but the actual bedrooms. The bedrooms have a nice plush carpet. I called a carpet cleaner and had them come out and clean the carpets. The day before we move in I’m having a cleaning company come out and literally clean the house from top to bottom, including washing the walls. There will be no remaining bits of Mr. Whiskers to bother my poor Hughbear’s delicate nasal passages.

Today we had the majority of our respective families come over and help work. We have one length of the fence in the backyard that we needed to reinforce to make sure that our doggies don’t decide to leave. We worked very hard and got a ton of things accomplished outside. We’re definitely ready to go for next weekend. I am very thankful to all of them that took time from their weekends to help us out. All we could do was pay them with lunch and candy bars, but they all seemed pretty happy. Plus, it gave everyone a chance to see where we’re going to be living. Everybody loved the house, and I’m glad that they’re all so happy for us.

It’s 8:40 and Hugh’s already asleep. He cut his leg right below his knee on a brick today. I think he needs stitches but his comment to me was, “I’m too tired to go get stitches.” It’s quite a deep gash, and even though I put a butterfly bandage on it I don’t think it’s going to stay closed. We’ll see. Maybe tomorrow it will have magically shrunk and closed together. And maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow to a French toast breakfast. Not likely, but it’s always a possibility.

Random Note: I’m currently shedding like a sheepdog. It’s driving me crazy and it’s pretty gross. There’s hair everywhere! I’m taking my thyroid medicine like a good girl so I’m not sure what’s going on. Maybe I should just cut off all my hair and the problem will be solved.

Thank you to the following people for all of your help today! We couldn’t have done it without you:
Renee
Frank
Mac
Theresa
Jordan
Krystal
Chelsey
Eddie
Jackson
Fredi
Jeanne

We love you guys, so very much!

Love,

Friday, August 5, 2011

Epic European Adventure, Volume 5


EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

If I had to choose one place from our trip to actually live, I would have chosen Edinburgh. It’s a beautiful capitol city, and yet it seems so quaint and friendly that you’d never know it. Hugh and I chose to visit Scotland for a few reasons. Hugh’s favorite drink is scotch (whisky is what you call it over there) and with a last name of McCrea, it’s obvious that this is the ancestral lands. Now, I have to say that Germany was the most beautiful place we visited but Scotland stands out because of the people. 

Hugh and I wanted to stay at Bed & Breakfast, and in my exhaustive search I located a place to stay that doesn’t advertise. They don’t have a website, and you won’t find them on trip advisor. All they have is a listing on Scotland’s version of HAR for vacationers. I had originally contacted a B&B about staying for our trip and the owner was going to be out of town. She referred me to a good friend of hers and promised that we’d LOVE the property. The price was right and the two pictures I saw looked great so we booked it. I was a little nervous that I was making a mistake but we were both shocked beyond belief. We stayed in a ground level apartment beneath an impressive residence. It was located on a crescent which is what you and I would call a cul-de-sac. Come to find out, the street we stayed on is considered to be the most expensive property in all of Edinburgh. It was gorgeous! We had our own entrance with a small kitchenette, a beautifully decorated bathroom that couldn’t have been cleaner if it’d tried, and the most comfortable room we’ve had the pleasure of staying in. There were fresh flowers on a small table in our room, two wingback chairs, and a gas fire that was simply lovely. Hugh and I would have happily lived there. 

Our host, Stephen, was exceptional. He pointed out a few places to eat and suggested a pub at the end of the road. Hugh and I chose to hang out there on our first night and we ran into Stephen while we were there. He invited us to join him and we had a very interesting night. He mentioned that he was retired from the hotelier business. He then mentioned something about trains. Come to find out, he was the owner of the number one luxury vacation train in the world. A few weeks before we’d left for our trip I recalled reading something on MSN about luxury train travel and I’d actually read about his train. It was incredible! Here we were staying in the house and having drinks with very famous hotel owner. He was so very interesting and so genuinely nice. He shared great stories from his experience in owning and operating the train and telling us about how he came up with the idea. Needless to say, this is one part of our trip that we’ll never forget. 

Stephen suggested that we visit a few places while we were in Edinburgh. One of them was Kay’s Bar. This is a tiny little pub run by a man named Fraser. He has a true handlebar mustache and he’s a former rugby player. Hugh and I escaped a rain storm one afternoon by ducking in to the bar. Fraser was very sweet and we enjoyed the locals immensely. This place is known as a “posh” bar by some people because the clientele are mainly college professors, lawyers, and judges. You’d never know it seeing as how warm, cozy, and non-pretentious it was. Stephen had told us to mention his name when we went and Fraser insisted that we sit at the actual bar and entertain him. We had great food and drinks, and he even removed three beer pull tabs from the wall that were from a beer called Houston and Texas and gave them to us as a souvenir. He asked us if we’d tried haggis, to which we both replied “NO!”. For those of you who don’t know; Haggis is sheep heart, liver, and lungs all mixed together with onions and spices and then cooked in a sheep stomach. It’s a national dish in Scotland and they take it very seriously. In fact, they even have a holiday devoted to it. Well, Fraser went back to the kitchen (he’s also the cook) and brought out a very gourmet looking plate of haggis for us to try. It was haggis on the bottom topped with ‘neeps (turnips) and then garnished with mashed potatoes. We both gave it a try (the two gin drinks I’d enjoyed seemed to help with the bravery) and honestly: It was quite good. I was prepared to hate it but I was pleasantly surprised. Overall, the visit to Kay’s Bar was quite unforgettable.

Hugh and I wandered around the city. It’s beautiful, and we took tons of photos. We went through the Whisky Experience which is essentially a distillery tour followed by a visit to the world’s largest collection of whiskies. It was a lot of fun and I know Hugh really enjoyed getting to see the collection; so much that he had six bottles of not-cheap scotch shipped back to our house. 

We took a tour out to the Highland’s and I’ll share that in the next post.

This is one of many churches in Edinburgh. They all have the dark stains from coal soot that can't be removed. The stone is sandstone of some sort and is too porous to be cleaned.

 I had to include this picture because Hugh did a great job of getting it backlit with the sun. So pretty!

 The whisky collection and tasting. 

 Some of the collection.

 More of the collection. The Johnny Walker company bought the collection from a private collector for the equivalent of $5 million U.S. Dollars.

 Edinburgh Castle.

 Part of the Royal Mile-it's a very long hill.
This is the street we stayed on. 

 
 Our entrance.

 Bedroom.
 The fire, window, and chairs. We would open the window and turn on the fire and just sit and relax.

 This is the cute little kitchen!


Love,


Thursday, August 4, 2011

Epic European Adventure, Volume 4

Ahhh…..Germany!

I really loved this place. After all of the previously posted adventures Hugh and I spent two days relaxing and having a good time. We enjoyed the bike tour so much that we decided to rent bikes from the same business and take a little tour of Munich on our own. We knew we wanted to go to the BMW Museum and if we had time, we wanted to take a gander at the Olympic Park. While some people might have taken a train, taxi or rented a car; Hugh and I decided that we would bike it.

Great decision!

We ended up biking around 20 miles or more, but it was fun. We got to see areas of Munich that we wouldn’t have gotten to see otherwise. We saw the BMW Museum where Hugh proceeded to take tons of pictures of cars. We rode through the Olympic Park and even took a bathroom break at the hockey center (it was open….we had to pee, it was a win-win!). On our way back we stopped a nice biergarten that was connected to its own brewery. We had a nice beer in the beautiful weather and it started to rain. We biked back the rest of the way in the rain, but we were prepared with our rain gear!

We spent a good amount of time at the Oktoberfest grounds. They were located within 300 feet of our hotel and there’s a walking path all the way around it. People walk, jog, and bring their dogs to play. There’s no leash law in Germany so dogs are everywhere! The great thing is that they’re all very well behaved. We sat on a park bench where we read and relaxed for a few hours. It was very relaxing and we enjoyed it immensely.

One random bit of information: At one point during our ride (near Maximilian University) we stopped to check the map. We were right next to a bar called Strand that was actually a beach. They had beach chairs and a little shack snack bar and the entire ground was covered in sand! It was crazy looking so we had to take a picture.

We left Germany and headed to Scotland. Hugh and I thoroughly enjoyed this section of our trip and I’d love to go back. 

 This is the bike I sat on. I'd be lying if I tried to tell you what the name of it was.

 Here's Hugh on the one he liked.

 This pod thing drove around all over the BMW building. I never really could figure out what its purpose was other than confusing people.

 I'm sharing this because it's SUPER TINY.

 Cool old car.

 BMW Factory and Offices

 The Lowenbrau brewery garden. After we'd ridden a good 18 miles but before the rain!

 Hugh got to keep his stein. :)

 This was in a really upscale department store. I had to take a picture for my brother. It's a lego Darth Vader.

 Oktoberfest Grounds

 Walking path round the Oktoberfest Grounds. I loved all the trees.

 Hugh got a new fixed 50mm lens for the trip. This was some lens practice....

 This was my practice with the lens. Rule of thirds, anyone??

 We saw this from the bench we were sitting on. It's a dog that's as large as a horse and to the left you can see the small little toy pomeranian-esque dog. They were hilarious to watch. The big dog would chase the little one and the little one would bite the bigger one. Talk about David and Goliath.

 These are the pictures of the bar called Strand. They aren't a close as we'd have liked, but typically people aren't all that excited about having their photo taken while they're trying to have their lunchtime beer.

I know it's hard to see, but if you click on the picture you'll realize that these people are a bit dressy for a beach day. I think it's a great idea!

Up Next: SCOTLAND!!!