Hard to make out, but that's Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau (names of the mountains) in the distance.
Kathi and Helen
After walking around a bit we stopped for a drink at the restaurant in the castle.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Thuner See and Schloss Schadau
This is Schadau Park on the banks of the Thuner See (Lake Thun) and Schloss Schadau (Schadau Castle). We went there the afternoon of the day I arrived in Switzerland.
Hard to make out, but that's Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau (names of the mountains) in the distance.
Kathi and Helen
After walking around a bit we stopped for a drink at the restaurant in the castle.
Hard to make out, but that's Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau (names of the mountains) in the distance.
Kathi and Helen
After walking around a bit we stopped for a drink at the restaurant in the castle.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Snowpocalypse
As you have probably heard, DC was hit with another huge snowstorm this weekend. It's actually still snowing, but the heaviest is gone by (if the weatherman can be trusted, which he can't). This one was even bigger than the Dec. snowstorm. Ellin's friend Walter wrote this song, which I think is great and exactly the attitude around here over the past week. Below I have attached some photo's of the snow, primarily digging out my car this morning.
SNOWPOCALYPSE
Bailey/Johnson
(to the tune of Metallica's MASTER OF PUPPETS)
Atmospheric chill
A peaceful calm to kill
Something's brewing in the ocean
A thousand miles away
Closer day by day
Mother Nature's deadly potion
Falling from the sky
No time to question why
Media hypes the lie
Shoveling till we die
Nature cryptic
Snowpocalyptic
A winter septic
Snowpocalyptic
Snowpocalypse calling, time to make haste
Inches of white piled up to your waist
In a prison of crystal you're soon encased
Snowpocalypse coming, no time to waste
Snowpocalyptic
SNOWPOCALYPSE
Bailey/Johnson
(to the tune of Metallica's MASTER OF PUPPETS)
Atmospheric chill
A peaceful calm to kill
Something's brewing in the ocean
A thousand miles away
Closer day by day
Mother Nature's deadly potion
Falling from the sky
No time to question why
Media hypes the lie
Shoveling till we die
Nature cryptic
Snowpocalyptic
A winter septic
Snowpocalyptic
Snowpocalypse calling, time to make haste
Inches of white piled up to your waist
In a prison of crystal you're soon encased
Snowpocalypse coming, no time to waste
Snowpocalyptic
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Snow Storm
Last weekend we had a big snowstorm here in the DC area. We got a little over 2 feet of snow here at my place. It's a lot of snow for this area, so it took a while for everything to get plowed. As a result we were snowed in Saturday during the worst of the storm. Sunday and Monday some roads were plowed, but there was no guarantee. Here's a few photos I took from my balcony during the storm (I had a little visitor) and a couple shots of my car on Saturday afternoon. It took me an hour and a half to dig my car out when it was all done on Sunday! Fun times :)
Sunday, November 1, 2009
A teaser...
Update on my new place:
I closed on my new place on Thursday. Settlement was supposed to be on Tuesday but it had to be delayed. I am so glad that the whole thing is finally done. It ended up being such a huge hassle trying to get the seller to do the things he agreed to do on the inspection notice. But it's all over and the place is mine now!
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I've started painting this weekend since I need to have the spare room done before I move all my stuff in. It's fun to pick out colors but it's also really difficult. I tested a couple shades of yellow and decided they were all too dark, so I bought a much lighter shade than I had originally been thinking and it looked good on the first wall. Now that the first coat is on all the walls- it seems very bright. Hopefully once the white trim is done and the furniture is moved in it will seem less like looking directly at the sun on a clear day.
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Other stuff:
After my last post I realized the event I forgot to mention was my cousins wedding! Sorry Brian and Jen!!! I have some pictures from the wedding to post (like everything else- someday in the future). I drove up to New Jersey for their wedding and had a great time seeing them as well as my Aunt Doris and Uncle Jim (Brian's parents) and my cousin Andrea who I hadn't seen in a long time. But I just have to ask one thing. What is it with the East coast and toll roads? Don't we already pay taxes for the upkeep of the roads??? It seriously cost me almost $30 in tolls round trip (for the non-east coasters, it's a 3 hour drive from here to NJ).
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Since several people asked when I was going to post photos from Balloon Fiesta, here are a few teasers until I have time to look through all the photos I took. These are in no particular order.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Surfacing for Air
If you've been wondering where I've been, it's been a very busy summer for me. I am still loving life back on the mainland and being in the DC area. I have one last set of photos to upload from the Alaska trip, then I will be done with that trip. Here's a snapshot of what I've been up to since Alaska.
In August I traveled to Nebraska for my great grandmother's 100th birthday celebration. It was great to see my family again, including my great grandma, my grandpa (her son) and my aunts on my Dad's side of the family. We also got to briefly see some distant cousins that we haven't seen since we lived in Nebraska (when I was in 4th and 5th grades). After spending a couple days in Nebraska I spent a couple more days in Colorado visiting my college friends. It was great to see all of them and meet the newest additions (there are two new babies and another one on the way). During the summer I also went to my first Nationals (DC's baseball team) game with my friends, participated in a walk to raise awareness about Human Trafficking (modern day slavery) and just enjoyed hanging out with my friends over countless meals including one trip to Allison's brother's restaurant in Southern Maryland.
At the end of the summer I finally decided to buy a house (after thinking about it for a long time and doing a lot of research about buying a house). In September I began that whole process. It's a strange market we're in out here right now, and not quite what I was expecting. I am pleased to say, however, that an offer I made on a two bedroom condo was accepted on my Birthday and if all continues to go well, I will close in about 10 days. I am very excited to be a homeowner and have a place of my own.
In September I also began a class at the community college. It's an introduction to Photoshop class and I am really enjoying it. There are several bloggers whose work (photography) I really admire who talk a lot about Photoshop and have written articles about how they do different things and showing comparisons of their photos before and after. While they have REALLY expensive cameras and multiple lenses, I cannot afford that kind of camera. I think I take decent photos with the camera I have now, but I saw the potential to make them that much better with better editing software (sorry HP, but your photo editing software just doesn't compare). The Photoshop software is so complex that my class really only skims the surface, but it will be enough for me to get started. This class is also one of the reasons I haven't posted much. I keep wanting to wait and post pictures and everything after I've learned enough to be able to edit them in Photoshop. However, I am taking photos at a pace that is far outstripping my future ability to edit and blog about it all since the class goes until December. Thus, I'm going to try and just post the photo's (time is still an issue for me) unedited and come back later and post a few favorites at a later date after I edit them.
At the beginning of October I travelled to Albuquerque for a long weekend with my Mom during Balloon Fiesta. I manage a hotel there and I was very happy to be able to meet the managers I work with who are on site and see the hotel, which just finished a remodel. It was also a fabulous opportunity to get two rooms at $40/night during the biggest event of the year in Albuquerque, and go see an event (Balloon Fiesta) that I have always wanted to attend. More to come on that in a separate post.
Last weekend I went camping at Cunningham Falls with four of my friends and it was great. I thought since the park was named after a waterfall that the waterfall must be great, but alas it was little more than a small stream flowing over a very large boulder. We hiked around in the park for several hours, then headed over to our camp site where we enjoyed the requisite hot dogs, hot chocolate and smores. The campgrounds had an actual bathroom building, which was nice since I am used to backpacking and no toilets.
This weekend we celebrated my friend Ellin's Birthday with a get together on Friday night. Yesterday morning I met my friend Allison at a local spa courtesy of her financial planner (as a way for him to meet new potential clients) and we enjoyed a morning of mani's and pedi's. I braved the mall in the afternoon for a little winter clothes shopping then gave my hair stylist free reign late in the afternoon. My hair is now a little blonder and I don't really have bangs anymore. Right now, I love the change, but I haven't had to style it myself yet- so I'll have to see how it goes.
And there you have it, the past couple months in a nutshell. No doubt I've forgotten some activities. Perhaps downloading my camera someday soon will jar my memory.
In August I traveled to Nebraska for my great grandmother's 100th birthday celebration. It was great to see my family again, including my great grandma, my grandpa (her son) and my aunts on my Dad's side of the family. We also got to briefly see some distant cousins that we haven't seen since we lived in Nebraska (when I was in 4th and 5th grades). After spending a couple days in Nebraska I spent a couple more days in Colorado visiting my college friends. It was great to see all of them and meet the newest additions (there are two new babies and another one on the way). During the summer I also went to my first Nationals (DC's baseball team) game with my friends, participated in a walk to raise awareness about Human Trafficking (modern day slavery) and just enjoyed hanging out with my friends over countless meals including one trip to Allison's brother's restaurant in Southern Maryland.
At the end of the summer I finally decided to buy a house (after thinking about it for a long time and doing a lot of research about buying a house). In September I began that whole process. It's a strange market we're in out here right now, and not quite what I was expecting. I am pleased to say, however, that an offer I made on a two bedroom condo was accepted on my Birthday and if all continues to go well, I will close in about 10 days. I am very excited to be a homeowner and have a place of my own.
In September I also began a class at the community college. It's an introduction to Photoshop class and I am really enjoying it. There are several bloggers whose work (photography) I really admire who talk a lot about Photoshop and have written articles about how they do different things and showing comparisons of their photos before and after. While they have REALLY expensive cameras and multiple lenses, I cannot afford that kind of camera. I think I take decent photos with the camera I have now, but I saw the potential to make them that much better with better editing software (sorry HP, but your photo editing software just doesn't compare). The Photoshop software is so complex that my class really only skims the surface, but it will be enough for me to get started. This class is also one of the reasons I haven't posted much. I keep wanting to wait and post pictures and everything after I've learned enough to be able to edit them in Photoshop. However, I am taking photos at a pace that is far outstripping my future ability to edit and blog about it all since the class goes until December. Thus, I'm going to try and just post the photo's (time is still an issue for me) unedited and come back later and post a few favorites at a later date after I edit them.
At the beginning of October I travelled to Albuquerque for a long weekend with my Mom during Balloon Fiesta. I manage a hotel there and I was very happy to be able to meet the managers I work with who are on site and see the hotel, which just finished a remodel. It was also a fabulous opportunity to get two rooms at $40/night during the biggest event of the year in Albuquerque, and go see an event (Balloon Fiesta) that I have always wanted to attend. More to come on that in a separate post.
Last weekend I went camping at Cunningham Falls with four of my friends and it was great. I thought since the park was named after a waterfall that the waterfall must be great, but alas it was little more than a small stream flowing over a very large boulder. We hiked around in the park for several hours, then headed over to our camp site where we enjoyed the requisite hot dogs, hot chocolate and smores. The campgrounds had an actual bathroom building, which was nice since I am used to backpacking and no toilets.
This weekend we celebrated my friend Ellin's Birthday with a get together on Friday night. Yesterday morning I met my friend Allison at a local spa courtesy of her financial planner (as a way for him to meet new potential clients) and we enjoyed a morning of mani's and pedi's. I braved the mall in the afternoon for a little winter clothes shopping then gave my hair stylist free reign late in the afternoon. My hair is now a little blonder and I don't really have bangs anymore. Right now, I love the change, but I haven't had to style it myself yet- so I'll have to see how it goes.
And there you have it, the past couple months in a nutshell. No doubt I've forgotten some activities. Perhaps downloading my camera someday soon will jar my memory.
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