Summer Travel

This summer is crazy.  Let me recap.

Trip 1: Mom and Jillian head to Florida to visit family.

Sad fact - I have very few pictures of this trip.  The first photo is of us the day we left for Florida...

And the second photo is of my mom and her brother Fritz on the day we left to return home.

Nevertheless, it was a fun trip.

Trip 2: Meghanne and Jillian venture to PA for a friend's wedding.

Meghanne and I got to the airport a good 2.5 hours early, so we took advantage of the unexpected opportunity to sit and hang out to look at her engagement pictures!

(This picture is courtesy of Kristen Scott of the 2654 Project; I shamelessly stole it off of Facebook.)

Once we got on the plane, we got the added bonus of a gorgeous sunset.

Travel tip no. 1: As it turns out, it's NOT ILLEGAL to rent a car if you're under 25.  They just charge you an extra $25.00 per day for being a "young driver," regardless of the fact that you have a spotless driving record.  

Travel tip no. 2: Flying into Baltimore is so cheap that it completely negates any extra fee you might have to pay for said rental car.  Ergo - if you need to go to York, PA, fly into B'more and rent a car.

Moving on.

Best part of this trip (other than the wedding)?  Seeing Diana!  It's always a glorious event when we get the rare privilege of a best friends' reunion, and this was no different.  Plus she brought her brother along, so we had a whole contingent of awesome people.

Amber was beautiful...

And so was the setting.

The day after the wedding, Meghanne and I got up at 4:45 to get ready to leave the hotel.  I've always considered myself a morning person (which might seem strange to some, I suppose), but after going to bed around 10:30, 4:30 felt like the middle of the night.  Nevertheless, we got ourselves up, ready, packed, and out the door by 5:15.  We drove the hour back to the airport, returned the rental car, went through security, and got on the plane.  From there, I got home, took a 2-hour nap, got back up, and went straight to work for a 2.25-day conference.  

Trip 3: After a week of work, Chaz and I took off for San Antonio for a business training trip.  Hello, 106-degree weather.

San Antonio is probably one of the coolest US cities I've visited.  That isn't really saying a whole lot, because I've really only ever been to Boston, Ft. Lauderdale, D.C., and Providence.  (Lest you think I am extremely un-traveled, note that I have left out all international cities.  Also, note that I am missing NYC from my list, which is honestly pathetic as it's only 4 hours away.)

In my opinion, the most interesting thing about San Antonio was that it had a very unique cultural flavor that made it almost feel like visiting another country.  Between the huge old-world Spanish style cathedral in the heart of the city and the gorgeous river walk beneath the hubbub of city traffic, I felt like I was walking in some city in Europe.  Plus we got to see the Alamo, which was something I had always thought of as some sort of mythic place that lived in a textbook and that I would never see.  

Having grown up in the North and currently living in Boston, it's easy to forget that the nation has more history than just the Revolutionary era.  I think it's funny how certain parts of the US are so inextricably tied with different eras of history: Boston and Philadelphia claim the Colonial days; Gettysburg is tied with the Civil War; and San Antonio is linked to the oft-neglected Texas Revolution.

Trip 4: Leaving on Monday for Washington state!

Ice Cream

I've always believed in taking good opportunities when you see them. Usually that turns out well.

Sometimes though, my head and my caloric intake have differing ideas about what constitutes "turning out well."

Flash Mob Glory Take 2!

Awhile ago, I blogged a video of the Copenhagen Philharmonic doing a flash mob in a Danish train station.  I guess the Copenhagen Philharmonic has a thing for trains, because they did it again.  Only this time they did it on the train rather than just in the station.



(Sidenote: I would really not enjoy being the oboist in the video.  Playing with a reed with sharp corners in a jerking train car sounds hazardous.)

I love the idea of doing this.  While I realize that it is a brilliant advertising scheme, the benefits go far beyond a little extra money in the orchestra's pocket(s).

There are so, so few people that get the rare privilege of experiencing orchestral music from the midst of the orchestra.  It's easy to appreciate music from an observer's perspective - you can turn on the radio, you can go to a band concert, heck, you can go to the BSO for only 20 bucks! - but it is a different thing altogether to be fully surrounded by it.  The sounds become richer.  The interworking parts become clearer.  And at least for me, it's incredibly moving.  So this type of flashmob?  Advertisement or not - I support it.

!!!

Have I mentioned that they're opening a Pinkberry 10 minutes from my house?

No?

THEY'RE OPENING A PINKBERRY 10 MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE.

Summer income: gone.

Historical Science Textbook?

Every once in a while when poking around online, I find something hilarious.  Or at least I think it's hilarious.  You might beg to differ.

Take this website as an example:

isitchristmas.com

But far better than that particular website is a second one that introduced the delightfully naive modern world to the illustrated horrors of people-munching creatures n 1889.  While it sounds truly ghastly, let me comfort you with the fact that these depictions of abominable deaths are hand-drawn, and in no way contain any blood.  But I will let you judge for yourself.  Be sure to read the captions.

Hopefully now you don't think that I have a terrible dark and twisted sense of humor.  However, if you were also intrigued, you can go see the rest of them here.

Birthday Fun

This evening, Meghanne threw a birthday party for Jon.

(They're engaged, by the way.  Woohoo!)

It was great fun.  Meghanne made some great cookies and a phenomenal cake, complete with a topping of heath bars that she crushed with a frying pan.  Epic.

What started as great conversation quickly morphed into an even more exciting round of the cup game.  Some of us knew it from elementary school, and others learned it for the first time, but the general conclusion was that the cup game will never lose its appeal.

Moreover, Meghanne now has her final lesson plans for the last week of school all set...

Crafts

Lately I've been wanting to do some crafting, especially after we made the cutest onesies at a friend's baby shower.  (Side note: it was a lovely shower!)

Since I don't really have a use for baby crafts, I thought I'd go with something more like these cute napkins:

(source)

Or instead, I could just go paint pottery again, possibly using this mug as as a model:

(source)

And if I had a tree to hang it from, I would absolutely make this (though definitely in a different color):

(source)

However, over the course of compiling these ideas, I've decided to make a patchwork quilt.  That means fun crafting!  And a trip to the sewing store!  And new fabric!  All I need now is a sewing machine.