I'm not sure I've EVER eaten so many "unhealthy" things in one day (while also NOT having ingested even one remotely healthy item). I tried...really I did. I kept thinking I should buy a piece of fruit at a corner stand but it just never happened.
Here is what I ate today:
Croissant for breakfast
Brie sandwich on baguette for lunch
Chocolate croissant for dessert after lunch
Ice cream
Falafel
Another chocolate croissant for dessert after dinner
No vitamins, fiber, or protein in sight!
B Squared
Thursday, May 16, 2013
First update
Holy Europen whirlwind, batman! The last couple of days have been a crazy cyclone of activity.
We arrived in Amsterdam at 5 am on Tuesday morning (which was 11 pm for us after having left Atlanta at 3 pm). Neither of us slept at all on the plane beacuse it was daytime for us and our seats were supremely uncomfortable. I was totally boxed into a seat that didn't have a window and since it was right behind economy comfort, the guy in front of me had extra reclining action that totally imposed into my space. Anyway.....after arriving into the actual city of Amsterdam, we proceeded to refemiliarize ourselves with its charm. We walked around the Jordaan neighborhood and the Red Light District for about 4 hours.
And then the jet lag started kicking in a bit so we headed back to the hotel to get a bit of a rest in before our exciting evening plans with my friend, Sumir. I napped for 3 hours (Bill didn't for whatever reason) and then Sumir arrived from Apeldoorn, where she is staying for about a month while doing research on bonobo chimpanzees. (She is working on a phd in evolutionary psycholog in a dual program at St. Andrews University in Scotland and somethingorother university in St. Etienne, France). We had a fantastic dinner at a great restaurant in the Red Light District called Tales and Spirits where I had one of the best drinks of my life. Well, actually, I had three. The best part about the drink was the name. It was called an "old whore". Awesome.
We had a grand old time catching up with Sumir. I hadn't seen her in a year and a half since the last time she was in Atlanta (but we go back to Miami days). At the end of the evening, we sent her off on a train back to Apeldoorn and we eagerly returned to our hotel to CRASH the F out.
Except......fate would not have it. Both of us woke up around 3:45 and we just could NOT fall back asleep. What a nightmare to be utterly exhausted but unable to sleep. There was no reason for it either. It was 4 am there and to us, it was like it was 10 pm after 48 hours of not sleeping! How is that possible?! But we were wide awake and having to bide our time until daylight.
After the restless night, we were also kind of stressing about getting to Paris. The train fare was exorbitantly high (258 euros for both of us) when we were expecting it to be around 70-90 euros. We really should've planned ahead but I guess I just assumed it would be reasonable. That was dumb.....
On a positive note, the train was fast as shit. At one point, our iphone compass speed tracker thingamajig clocked us at 197. Crazy! So we arrived to Paris around 5 pm.....made our way to our hotel in Montmartre, and then had another dilemma. Our hotel room smelled like a dead animal. When the front desk clerk told us we had been upgraded, we didn't realize it meant a complete assault of our olfactory sense. And then on top of that, the toilet was possessed and wouldn't stop flushing! We really tried to be ok with the situation.......rationalizing it like "oh, it's paris. We can't expect too much." But then we decided to be spoiled about it and we requested a room change. Thankfully, it worked out great. The room is a tiny bit smaller but does it really make a difference when the room only fit a full size bed and a desk to begin with?!??!?! It smells great by comparison!! The neighborhood is super cute. It's way above the rest of the city and there are a lot of beautiful views all around. We ventured out for a delicious dinner (Bill had steak and I had braised beef) and then strolled around the immediate area.
This morning (after a fantastic night of sleep, finally!!!!), we woke up to our first real day in Paris! What a city. It's all hustle and bustle. We made our way to the metro and figured out how to buy a discounted pack of 10 tickets (called a carnet and pronounced "car-nay") and then rode it down to the Notre Dame. Our day was long and I'm writing this pos now at 10:25 pm after 12 hours of exploring the city. Only about 1.5 hours of that was NOT spent walking so our feet are SOOO weary!!! Here is what we did and saw:
Pantheon (neoclassical monument that celebrates France's history and people)
Had a picnic on a bench overlooking the Seine river
Notre Dame (700-year old cathedral)
Deportation Memorial (memorial to the 200,000 French victims of the Holocaust)
Ile St Louis (tiny little island in the Seine river that is now home to one of Paris' most exclusive neighborhoods)
Latin Quarter (former artsy bohemian neighborhood that is like "quintessential Paris")
Saint Chapelle (another Gothic church)
Pont Neuf (Paris' oldest bridge)
Boat Tour (after having walked for several hours already, we came across their docking area so on a whim, we bought tickets aboard a one-hour tour)
Holocaust memorial Museum (different than the Deportation museum; it had history and photographs and lots more information)
Ate a "take away" dinner in the Jewish Quarter (i had falafel; Bil had scharma)
Musee d'Orsay (museum that houses the best collections of impressionist art including Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, and others)
Wearily rode the metro back to hotel and commenced writing of blog post.
The end.
Friday, May 10, 2013
And we're off....again!
We're leaving on Monday on a 2-week trip to France. Our general itinerary is shown in the map below.
We're flying into Amsterdam and spending one day and night there since we thought it was so charming in 2009. We will also meet up with my friend, Sumir, while we're there. Then we'll take a train to Paris and spend 4 days there. On the 19th, we will rent a car and spend 8 days traveling the countryside including the beaches of Normandy, Mont St Michel, the Loire Valley, and the Dordogne Valley.
Hand me a glass of wine and get in my belly, au pain chocolat!
We're flying into Amsterdam and spending one day and night there since we thought it was so charming in 2009. We will also meet up with my friend, Sumir, while we're there. Then we'll take a train to Paris and spend 4 days there. On the 19th, we will rent a car and spend 8 days traveling the countryside including the beaches of Normandy, Mont St Michel, the Loire Valley, and the Dordogne Valley.
Hand me a glass of wine and get in my belly, au pain chocolat!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
DIY Bookcases - part deux
I'm having some blog formatting issues. Hopefully, I'll get that figured out soon....or maybe not. Anyway, when last I left you, I was describing the process of building and wallpapering the book shelves. Here's a reminder photo:
Once the trim work was done, we caulked and painted to finish it all up. And here are our new bookshelves! We haven't finished organizing and styling it all so I might do a follow-up post later on.
Once they were all assembled and wallpapered, we attached the doors and drilled some holes so that we could still have access to the electrical outlet (seen in the photo above).
And then we took a two week break because of the unfortunate early passing of one of my close high school friends. I traveled to Miami for the funeral and even though it gave me some sense of closure and I'm really glad I went, we experienced a delay in completing our project. Actually, the delay was also due to our indecisiveness in the trim and finish work. We couldn't decide if we should just caulk and paint or if we should buy crown molding to give it a truly "built-in" look. But then we decided to go for it.Tuesday, February 7, 2012
DIY Built-In Bookshelves (Courtesy of Ikea) - Part I
So here's my first non-travel related post. But it's a good one!
Our house has three bedrooms. One is our master bedroom and one is a guest bedroom. Since we don't have kids yet, the last bedroom has housed a random assortment of items: dog crate, cat feeding area, exercise room, etc. We're lucky that we have a separate designated office space downstairs so the "bonus" room was just laying low for a while.
Here's a "before" shot of the bonus room after we had emptied it of MOST of its contents. That's our helper beagle, Roxy. Isn't she cute?
Before we had even started, we realized we HATED the wall color in there. It was a really ugly shade of baby blue that the previous owners used for their baby's nursery. We decided on a light gender-neutral shade of grey and then spent a weekend painting. After some of our other lengthier painting projects, this one didn't seem too bad. Four walls, 2 people, no problem!
Once the painting was finished, we hopped over to our local Ikea store to buy 3 full-sized and 2 smaller Billy book cases as well as 6 doors so that part of this eventual storage solution would provide closed storage for some of our unsightly items. We also went shopping for wallpaper because we decided we'd rather have a pattern on the back of the book cases (rather than a solid color like in our inspiration photo) and decided on a cool monochromatic grey pattern.
The next step was putting the book cases together and wallpapering the backs. We experimented first because neither of us has ever done any wallpapering!
Since we'll have doors covering that middle section, we decided to save some of the wallpaper for future projects. (don't judge us, that wallpaper was pricey!)
But a few months ago, we realized we have all this junk around the house and there's nowhere to put it! We don't have that much closet space and what we do have is occupied by more important stuff (servers, computers, DRESSES, etc.) So I brought up the idea of making some DIY built-in book cases (inspired by http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2011/11/from-billys-to-built-ins/#more-23570). And then.....a few weeks later, Bill agreed to help me take this on.
Here's a "before" shot of the bonus room after we had emptied it of MOST of its contents. That's our helper beagle, Roxy. Isn't she cute?
Before we had even started, we realized we HATED the wall color in there. It was a really ugly shade of baby blue that the previous owners used for their baby's nursery. We decided on a light gender-neutral shade of grey and then spent a weekend painting. After some of our other lengthier painting projects, this one didn't seem too bad. Four walls, 2 people, no problem!
Once the painting was finished, we hopped over to our local Ikea store to buy 3 full-sized and 2 smaller Billy book cases as well as 6 doors so that part of this eventual storage solution would provide closed storage for some of our unsightly items. We also went shopping for wallpaper because we decided we'd rather have a pattern on the back of the book cases (rather than a solid color like in our inspiration photo) and decided on a cool monochromatic grey pattern.
The next step was putting the book cases together and wallpapering the backs. We experimented first because neither of us has ever done any wallpapering!
Since we'll have doors covering that middle section, we decided to save some of the wallpaper for future projects. (don't judge us, that wallpaper was pricey!)
Friday, November 25, 2011
Ko Phi Phi Islands
Happy Thanksgiving from Thailand! We celebrated Thanksgiving by blowing it out and partaking in the ridiculous international buffet at our hotel here in Phuket. It was a smorgasbord. No turkey or stuffing but we certainly had our fill of Pad Thai, curries, and shrimp. More importantly, we have had the chance to take stock of all the reasons that we are lucky this year. It's been a very long and stressful year in SO many ways but in this moment, we have each other and the opportunity to have an experience that most people will never have. There were moments during this trip, especially in Vietnam, but here in Thailand too, when we felt incredibly humbled by the things we saw. Everything in our life is merely the result of so many other pieces that had to fall into place. In one week, we'll be back at work grinding away at life.....and this will all feel like a blur. But I am thankful for THIS moment. I'm thankful for the fantastic wedding we managed to pull off - even though it was the source of a LOT of stress. I'm also thankful for the support and love of our families and the incredible friends we have. I have always rejoiced in my friendships but during the last few months before and during the wedding, I was especially reminded of that. I was overwhelmed with the love in our lives. At the end of the day, isn't that what it's all about?
Anyway.....our arrival to Phuket yesterday totally changed our outlook. Although we ended up making the most of our day and a half on Koh Samui, it was pretty disappointing. And even though Phuket is super touristy, our hotel is sort of removed from all of that. It is situated on a huge cliff overlooking Siray Bay. Our room is way up on the cliff and requires us to either walk up a hundred or so stairs or riding a golf cart. The view is incredible. And more importantly, the weather is better, we have more choices for activities and dining, and we're not at the mercy of the hotel for everything.
We ended up booking two snorkeling trips during our time here. So, since we knew those two days would be well-spent, we didn't feel guilty about taking it easy yesterday and enjoying everything that the resort does have to offer.
Today, we went on the first snorkeling trip. It was an all-day trip to the Koh Phi Phi Islands. There are six islands in the group known as Phi Phi. They are 31 miles east of Phuket and are part of a national park. In addition to the marine life, we saw limestone mountains and cliffs, caves and long white sandy beaches (including the one that was filmed in the movie, The Beach).
Anyway.....our arrival to Phuket yesterday totally changed our outlook. Although we ended up making the most of our day and a half on Koh Samui, it was pretty disappointing. And even though Phuket is super touristy, our hotel is sort of removed from all of that. It is situated on a huge cliff overlooking Siray Bay. Our room is way up on the cliff and requires us to either walk up a hundred or so stairs or riding a golf cart. The view is incredible. And more importantly, the weather is better, we have more choices for activities and dining, and we're not at the mercy of the hotel for everything.
We ended up booking two snorkeling trips during our time here. So, since we knew those two days would be well-spent, we didn't feel guilty about taking it easy yesterday and enjoying everything that the resort does have to offer.
Today, we went on the first snorkeling trip. It was an all-day trip to the Koh Phi Phi Islands. There are six islands in the group known as Phi Phi. They are 31 miles east of Phuket and are part of a national park. In addition to the marine life, we saw limestone mountains and cliffs, caves and long white sandy beaches (including the one that was filmed in the movie, The Beach).
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Koh Samui - Part II
Last night, we got all grumpy and discontent about our island portion of the trip but we've really turned things around in the last 16 hours. In addition to changing our itinerary in order to eliminate some of the wasted time of traveling from one coast to another (even though we are still doing that....just to an easier locale on the west coast of the peninsula), we woke up today newly refreshed and ready to make the best of it.
It wasn't raining today even though it was rather cloudy. But in a way, that might have been better (for me) because we weren't stuck indoors and I had less chance of burning to a crisp. After a huge breakfast at the hotel, we set off in a songthaew to Chaweng Beach, the biggest town on the island. Taking a songthaew (shared open-air cab) saved us quite a bit of money even though it still wasn't cheap compared to other cities. We have found that the cab and songthaew drivers here don't allow for much negotiation on their prices.
Chaweng Beach is packed end-to-end with hotels and bungalows. It really is the center of the tourist experience in Koh Samui and every sign was in English. At first glance, you would think you were in any other beach town in America with the endless drag of sunglass and swimsuit stores, bars, cafes, and smoothie shops. After having lunch and checking out the main drag, we headed to the actual beach area. It was pretty nice and picturesque so we walked about a mile up the beach and back just taking it all in. Please note the first of two pictures taken today in which Bill is being a male model, Zoolander-style.
When we got back to the hotel in the late afternoon, we took a dip in the pool and relaxed. Note the 2nd male model pose; so hilarious. (although really, who am I to talk? Look at the picture below!)
We went back out to Chaweng tonight for dinner. We actually contemplated the idea of attending a muay thai match tonight. Muay thai is a form of kick boxing that has been practiced throughout Southeast Asia for at least a thousand years. On our way down to Chaweng Beach today, we rode with some girls from London that have come here to train in it. They sure didn't look like the kind of girls that would be into hand-to-hand combat but apparently, it's a popular thing to do. Anyway, it turned out to cost 1,000 baht per ticket (or about $35) and we didn't think it was worth it because we hadn't planned to stay very long. Oh well....we have to get up at 6 am to catch our next flight.
It wasn't raining today even though it was rather cloudy. But in a way, that might have been better (for me) because we weren't stuck indoors and I had less chance of burning to a crisp. After a huge breakfast at the hotel, we set off in a songthaew to Chaweng Beach, the biggest town on the island. Taking a songthaew (shared open-air cab) saved us quite a bit of money even though it still wasn't cheap compared to other cities. We have found that the cab and songthaew drivers here don't allow for much negotiation on their prices.
Chaweng Beach is packed end-to-end with hotels and bungalows. It really is the center of the tourist experience in Koh Samui and every sign was in English. At first glance, you would think you were in any other beach town in America with the endless drag of sunglass and swimsuit stores, bars, cafes, and smoothie shops. After having lunch and checking out the main drag, we headed to the actual beach area. It was pretty nice and picturesque so we walked about a mile up the beach and back just taking it all in. Please note the first of two pictures taken today in which Bill is being a male model, Zoolander-style.
When we got back to the hotel in the late afternoon, we took a dip in the pool and relaxed. Note the 2nd male model pose; so hilarious. (although really, who am I to talk? Look at the picture below!)
We went back out to Chaweng tonight for dinner. We actually contemplated the idea of attending a muay thai match tonight. Muay thai is a form of kick boxing that has been practiced throughout Southeast Asia for at least a thousand years. On our way down to Chaweng Beach today, we rode with some girls from London that have come here to train in it. They sure didn't look like the kind of girls that would be into hand-to-hand combat but apparently, it's a popular thing to do. Anyway, it turned out to cost 1,000 baht per ticket (or about $35) and we didn't think it was worth it because we hadn't planned to stay very long. Oh well....we have to get up at 6 am to catch our next flight.
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