MichL2077

Camping

2008-06-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't been camping in over 10 years. I always loved doing it, but as I get older, not too many of my friends have interest in living outdoors. However, my friends Janice and Tim have been camping on Assateague Island for the past 3 years. Every year I have had a conflict and couldn't go. This year I made it! The island is amazing. Situated in North VA, the island is a nature reserve and horse sanctuary. Meaning, the only things on the island are camping, beach and wild horses. It was a beautiful weekend. 3 of us girls went down Friday afternoon with little Travis and set up the tents and canopy. The guys got there around 5pm and our other group didn't get there until Sat. Camping on sand is definitely much different than camping in the mountains. The weather was beautiful and we had a great breeze being that close to the water. We spent the day on Saturday by the beach, the boys caught our dinner of mussels and clams and both Friday and Saturday nights we had great bonfires on the beach. Seeing the horses up close was amazing. We even had one visit us at night to try to find some food in our cooler. Luckily most of it was sealed up tight! This was the trip I was hoping for and it really delivered.

Spring Update

2008-06-03T08:59:00.000-07:00

Since my last blog, we've celebrated more birthdays, bringing Birthday Season to an end. I had a joint birthday party in NYC with my friend's Margaret and Camille. It was a great 31st celebration, with my college friend Michelle coming up from VA to celebrate with us. We all had the best time at Stitch Bar and for the first time actually stayed in a hotel in NYC instead of racing for the last train home.

Next up, was Mike's birthday. We had a great dinner at River Cat Grill in Rowayton, and the boys avoided all the Cougar's roaming the restaurant.

Sing's 30th birthday was a week long event. We all went out for her birthday in NYC and had a great dinner and drinks.

Then later that week I went down to Key West with her, Dagmar and San. It was a great mini-vacation. Perfect weather and no travel hassels. Nothing but sun, boats, good company and a little henna tattooing.

Last weekend, Sing, Margaret, Jill and I had a classic Girl's Weekend. Sing and I started out by visiting our friend Leah's new baby boy, Harrison. So cute! Then the 4 of us went to see the Sex and the City movie. We followed up the movie with a cheesy toast, the 4 girls and our cosmos! Dinner at Napa & Co was great, although, I hope nobody around us was interested in seeing the SATC movie, since we were probably major spoilers, discussing the movie in detail! We finished the night up with some dancing at Tiernan's and taking pictures with some of the statues from the Art Around Town exhibits in Stamford. Then everyone crashed at our place and the next morning my Mom joined us and we did the Bennett Cancer 5K walk. It was a beautiful morning!

Birthday Season Continues

2008-04-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

Atti's 29th Birthday was Friday. I skipped out of work a little early to catch a train to NYC with Timea and Lauren, where we met his coworkers (who are really fun!), plus a ton of Atti's friends who came down. The bar was Public House, the scene was mixed, the space was limited, but the fun was plenty. I'm pretty sure that I heard that Atti was dancing by the end of the night...but that could just be a rumor.

The best part of my night was hanging out on the set of Law and Order SVU! They were filming in Grand Central Station. So while I waited for my train back to CT, I got to see Chris Meloni acting his scenes. Love that show!

Welcoming Another Baby

2008-03-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to my friends Holly and Mike. Their second little girl, Kiera, was born on March 22, 7lbs 15oz, 20 inches long. She's so beautiful!

Disposable Camera

2008-03-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

I love it. When I moved into my apartment over a year ago, I came across a random finished disposable camera. Slightly nervous, today I finally had the pictures developed. There's something amazing about not knowing exactly what is on a camera. Heck, when I take pictures these days, I immediately look at the camera to see how it looks and promptly delete any photos that I don't like. But sometimes, the random, off-centered, out of focus pictures are the fun ones. The one's that really remind you of what was going on at the time of the photo. There are the crooked one's because you were on a boat. The blurry one's that perfectly capture the last photos of a long night out and the dark pictures because after hours of being at the beach, you forgot that the sun was setting and you needed to turn on the flash. Yah, I think I miss that.

I Love Birthday Season!

2008-03-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

March and April are by far the busiest birthday months of the year. I know of 26. 12 friends, 6 roommates (past and current), 2 coworkers, 5 family members...and most important...ME! The season started off with Sean's Birthday last Saturday and boy was it a good start. I joined the already in progress birthday program at PF Changs. I had missed the all afternoon/evening Rugby watching and drinks at Tigins, as I was still exhausted from the night before. I blame Margaret....and wine. Not a huge fan of PF Changs food...but the Leechitini's were fantastic. They made for a good appetizer, entree and dessert. Let the season begin!

Bridal Event

2008-02-25T06:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Margaret and I brought Jill to Le Chateau in South Salem NY for a bridal event. Jill is planning a small destination wedding, but we thought it would be fun to get her in the wedding spirit. So free champagne, food and dessert and a couple of wedding vendors later, we had a great time! Here's a picture of us. Jill's the one in the middle with the beautiful engagement ring!

New Zealand

2008-02-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

Wow,
I have not blogged in forever! I'm going to try to get back into it, but we'll see how that works. Anyway, I just got back from a fantastic trip to New Zealand. I was there for 9 days and then unfortunately had to leave my friends while they completed their remaining 5 days. Lucky! There was a group of 12 of us. 7 from CT (Me, Kim, Mark, Larisa, Judith, Nancy and Chris), 1 from NYC (Christina), 2 from Australia (Leon and Mike) and 2 from NZ (Raewyn and Tim). The trip was unlike any trip I've taken so far. There was an introduction of culture, once in a lifetime activities, beauty unseen anywhere else in the world and friendships that would not have formed had I not gone on this trip. This wasn't a vacation about sitting on the beach and getting a tan (although that was included). It was really about looking at myself and who I am. That may not have been what my companions were doing, but I certainly was. Spending time with the Maori and really experiencing NZ from a place other than as a tourist was really eye opening. I had the time of my life, did everything I could do with the time I was there and will miss everything about it. Luckily, we've taken thousands of pictures, so I'll have my pick of what I'd like to surround myself with as memories. I hope to go back, but expect that I won't be on that long plane ride anytime soon. As a group, we attempted another blog The Great Kiwi Adventure http://kiwiadventure1.blogspot.com/. You can check that site out for more details and pictures from the trip.
With that Aroha!

Playing Hooky

2007-06-29T10:03:00.001-07:00

The weather was so fantastic this week, that I decided to randomly take off work on Wednesday. I really couldn't have asked for a better day off. The weather was 92 degrees and sunny for most of the day. The only down fall was that I started the day with a trip to the DMV. I am now no longer a NY driver. I guess now I can follow the rules of CT and not use my blinker, drive slowly and not stop at stop signs. It'll be great!

Margaret was back in town and her sister Mary came to visit, so we headed up to the Fairfield to Penfield Beach. It was nice to try a new location and get out of Stamford. Afterwards I met Katy and we went to see Shakespeare on the Sound with some people from Ave B. I'd been dying to go for years, so was really excited when one of my friends actually said yes to the idea. The play was a Comedy of Errors, which I'd actually never read before. It was hysterical! I had the best time....for the first half. We drank wine, had a picnic and then promptly RAN for cover when the torrential downpour started. But hey, it ended up at River Cat Grill with a nice bartender buying us Summer Ales. So all in all it turned out well.

JP Morgan Corporate Challenge

2007-06-22T12:04:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics from after my company's participation in the JP Morgan Challenge 3.5 mile run. I made it everyone! As everyone knows, I'm not a runner. But I finished and even managed to spot my kid brother off in the distance, cheering me on. That's pretty impressive considering there were about 20,000 people in Central Park yesterday. I ran with my friend Sing for about a mile and a half, then when she left me I put on my iPod (thanks Michelle for the bday gift!) and chugged along. After the race we hit up a bar called Bounce on the upper east side.

Abhishek and Sing....leaving Greenwich next week for greener pastures in NYC and India.

Kayak for a Cause VII - Practice

2007-06-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

So in 44 days I'm going to be kayaking 13 miles across the Long Island Sound. I'm pretty excited about this! The money is for 5 great charities, the race will be a new challenge for me, and the party afterwards is going to be great! I had my first practice last Saturday, which went very well. I had to get into 65 degree water, not that fun. But my instructor said that I had great form! Of course, I also had great form in swimming...didn't make me the fastest swimmer. The hardest part of this whole thing is going to be raising money. I'm just not that good at asking people.

http://kfac.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=185201&u=185201-152722154&e=1120780473

Paris

2007-06-05T14:54:00.000-07:00

This is my second trip to Paris. The first was 2 years ago for a long rainyweekend and now I only have 1 full day on this trip. Happily it was a beautiful day to stroll around the city.

June 1 - We drove back from Bordeaux, dropped off the car and got a very entertaining taxi ride to our hotel. He was our own little tour guide giving us bits of info along the way. Our hotel was in the Marais area which was a nice square to be near. They had this cute little market set up and on Saturday they had a loud Christian rally going on. We went to this great restaurant where we had goose liver pate, foie gras and other things that I thought were tasty...some did not. The owner was really helpful and actually translated the entire selection to us, which was above and beyond. After our wine touring we were experts at picking out our wines this night.

June 2- My one day in Paris. Margaret and Maisie and I set out to see the city after a croissant and a cappuccino. Things we grew to love even before getting to Paris. We walked along the Seine up to the Musee de Orsay. This was a fabulous museum. I loved everything and only skipped the period furniture section. After wandering through Monet, Renoir, Rodin and more, we headed to the Conciergerie where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned and beheaded. It was interesting, but there are far more things to see in Paris. Mike arrived in Paris on Saturday, so Margaret went to meet him while Maisie and I headed to the Champs Elysees. I missed this on my first trip to Paris and was so excited to go. I just loved the people watching as we wandered the street. The Arc de Triumph was so much bigger than I thought it would be. We were so beat by the end that we didn't climb to the top. Will have to save that for another time. Later that night we decided to bring one of our bottles of sparkling wine we got in the Loire Valley and drank it under the Eiffel Tower. It was so great there. My friend Katy told me to picnic there and had I had more time I would have. I definitely will the next time I go. So many groups of friends and couples were having there dinner out on the lawn. Baguettes, cheese and wine all around. We had an ok meal and then hit the China Club and an Irish Pub to end the trip.

The vendors we passed while walking along the Seine.

Pont Neuf. Me, Maisie and Margaret.

The view of the inside of the Musee d'Orsay from the 4th floor.

This was an amazing miniature replica of Paris that was under the floor. So we could walk and look down upon the city.

Margaret and Maisie enjoying Degas' ballet dancers.

This artist copied Van Gogh almost perfectly!

Taking a lunch break outside the Musee d'Orsay

Inside Conciergerie.

The Grand Palace and the Petit Palace

l'Hôtel des Invalides

Charles de Gaulle - who the airport is named after. Was the leader of the Free French forces.

Arc d'Triumph and Champs Elysees

Enjoying a nice bottle of Champagne under the Eiffel Tower.

Our last night out in Paris.

Wine Regions of France

2007-06-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

Before going to Paris, we decided to drive through the wine regions of France. We stopped in the Loire Valley and the Bordeaux region.

May 29th - We picked up our car and started the drive. Unfortunately, from the road the area looked very similar to Vermont or Upstate New York. It wasn't until we were off the main road that it was true wine country. We arrived late to Tours and got our own police escort to the Novatel where we were staying and ate McDonalds. The next morning we set out for a Castle and some wineries. First stop was Chateau de Chenonceau which King Henry II gave to his mistress Diane de Poitiers. It's built on a bridge across a river, so it's surrounded by water. Then we headed to 2 wineries, both of which I forgot their names and will have to add them in later. But they were known for their whites (to Margaret's dismay). That night we went to a really cute dark little Jazz restaurant. Unfortunately we encountered (despite our attempts at speaking french) the kinds of french attitude that gives the French a bad name. But it was still an enjoyable meal in a neat setting.

Cemetery we drove by that's built into the side of the hill.

Entrance to Chateau de Chenonceau

Jonathan and Margaret looking into a well.

The private chapel inside the Chateau.

This was the banquet hall, but after the WWI it was used as a hospital ward and in WWII people escaped through it because one side of the hall was in the occupied zone and the other side free.

Below are pictures of the kitchen. I love this stuff, old houses, old kitchens.

Maisie with Diane's garden in the background.

This is the first winery we went to.

May 31st - We arrived in Bordeaux and found our hotel to be in not the nicest area. Jonathan booked us a hotel (although 3 stars) in an area 1 block from establishments bearing "peepshow" "sex shop" "feeling bar". Plus we were near a train station. Not the best place, but we were only staying for a night. We visited another 2 wineries. One was a tiny family run business called Laniotte, where the owner showed us his home made video of his family and process as well as entertaining us with a few magic tricks. Then we went to a larger winery called Chateau Franc Mayne, where we got to go into some underground caverns. The little city was cute and again I need to look up the names. The girls sat outside and had some wine and cheese in between wineries. So after the long day of wine tasting we were exhausted and ended up ordering room service. Partly because we were afraid to go outside and mostly because French Idol was on TV!

Laniotte winery. Very tiny but good wine and fun owner.

The small town of Saint-Emilion where we stopped for lunch in between wineries.

Margaret entertaining herself while waiting for the tour guide.

Maisie and I looking out from down in the cave.

Inside the cave where they keep the wine.

Barcelona

2007-06-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, we had to shorten our trip to Barcelona by a day. So we only had one full day there. But I really loved it. The city is a port city and has such beautiful history. The people were really nice and I loved practicing my Spanish. Plus we stayed in this amazing old mansion built in 1880. I'm convinced it's haunted it was that cool and old.

May 27 - We basically spent our entire Sunday travelling to Barcelona. Flights were delayed and a layover in Milan caused us to get in pretty late. Luckily we found out ahead of time that the Picasso Museum was going to be closed on Monday, so as soon as we got off our flight we dropped our bags and rushed to see the Picassos. There was such an extensive collection and not too much time, so we had to really focus our attention to certain areas only. Afterwards we were so hungry that we stopped across the street to get some Udan noodles. I'd actually never had them before and it was really a treat. After dinner we walked around and then stopped in from the rain to a little plaza bar.

The little cafe bar we stopped out to stay out of the rain.

Monday May 28th - We had a very filled day. Luckily we had our Rick Steves travel guide with us. Following his tours really let us make the most of our time. We started out walking to the Barcelona Cathedral. Then we visited the Chocolate museum. After lunch we walked up Las Ramblas which is a beautiful walkway in the middle of a main street where they have vendors, artists and restaurants. We stopped at this great little indoor market. Meat and veggies galore! Then we ended our touring with a trip to visit the Sagrada Familia Church. This is by far one of the most amazing places I visited. The church began construction in 1882 and has yet to be completed. Gaudi worked on it for over 40 years and lived in the church. When he died work continued on the church using his designs but most of them were then lost during the Spanish civil war. There were just so many different things to look at and it was so unique. Unlike any RC church I'd ever seen. Plus seeing what was completed while he was alive versus what they've done since was really amazing. I could have stayed there all day. Then that night we headed out for a typical tapas dinner. Funny enough, I think that they eat a big lunch and not a big dinner, so when we kept ordering plates (which actually wasn't that much food) our waiter looked at us like we were crazy.

Beginning of our day of trekking.

The Barcelona Cathedral

Inside the chocolate museum

A small off the beaten path church we found on our walking tour.

Orange trees in the courtyard of the church.

Las Ramblas.

The market in the Ramblas area.

Random artwork

Below are all the pictures of the Sagrada Familia Church. You can see the original and the "addition". I took a bunch of close up shots to show the unique detail.

Mykonos

2007-06-05T11:31:00.001-07:00

Santorini was nice, but we were definitely ready for some fun in Mykonos. Surprisingly, I actually thought Mykonos was much more charming. Our hotel was amazing. The pool looked over the cliff to the town and port below.

May 24 - we took the ferry from Santorini to Mykonos. It was a fast ferry so we weren't allowed out on the deck, but we could see all the island stops along the way just as well. As soon as we got to the hotel we laid out. It was just a really beautiful day and we were fast learning not to waste a single moment of sun. That night we went down to the city for dinner at a nice italian place with a waiter who looked like Joey Tribbiani (well at least that's what he says). We then headed to a dance club called Scandinavian which hosted a very interesting scene.

The hall of the hotel outside my room.

The view from my room.

The pool.

Me and Margaret.

Dancing at Scandinavian Bar.

May 25 - Maisie hadn't been feeling very well all trip, so she went to the health clinic to get some medication while Margaret and I treated ourselves to a pedicure. Since the weather wasn't that nice, we figured we'd take advantage of the opportunity. Maisie ended up finding out she had Bronchitis for the past 3 weeks. Internet cafes were a frequent stop on the trip. I had my blackberry, so I didn't need them, but the others did. So that afternoon while Margaret and Jonathan emailed, Maisie and I explored the city. Which was so quaint with the blue and white trims and flowers everywhere. Our plan that night was to go to Paradise Beach on the other side of the island, which we heard was a great party beach. However after a car sickening taxi ride to the other side, our taxi driver told us that it was closed until 5am! Here we thought it was a 5pm-10pm party spot, when really it's the late night after party spot that doesn't start until 5 in the morning! Reluctantly we got back in the taxi and headed to town to have a nice dinner near the water.

The windmills by the sea.

The biggest pelican I've ever seen. "Pelicano"

The scene at this bar was much more happening at night. But when we walked by in the morning we had to get a picture.

The harbor.

May 26th - Our flight back to Athens wasn't until the evening, and since the weather was so great, we headed to the beach after checking out of our hotel. A short bus ride had us there in no time. It was really the most beautiful day we had on the islands and we enjoyed every minute until we had to get ready to fly out.

Santorini

2007-06-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

So after spending a little city time, we headed to the islands. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great. We did get in 2 beach days, but that just made us want even more.

May 23, 2007 - Margaret, Maisie and I rented a car to drive to the other side of the island and spend the day at Perissa Beach, while Jonathan rented an ATV. I was the driver and Margaret was the navigator. The drive was pretty windy and the car was pretty crappy, but we made it safely there and back. It was our first day at the beach and I enjoyed every minute of it. The beach had black sand, I read a good book, and the restaurant served right to our lounge chairs. When we came back we went shopping/sightseeing along the cliffs and then at night had dinner on the cliffside with a view of the volcano.

Our little Fiat. I think I stayed in 2nd gear the entire trip across the island.

A church near our hotel.

The view of the cliffside.

A door to a bar that is about 100 steps down to the first level.

Perrissa Beach.

Greece

2007-06-05T09:24:00.001-07:00

May 18th - I left JFK with Margaret late Friday night. Destination Athens, slight stopover in Heathrow. We barely made our connecting flight... our luggage didn't make our connecting flight. Luckily, since we had no luggage it was really easy to jump on a train and make our way to the hotel. Hotel Odeon. The smallest and worst shower of the trip. But it was a welcome bed after the long travel.

May 20th - Our first full day in Athens. We headed out to do a walking tour of Athens. Started at the train station in the center of town and ended at the Acropolis (of Athens). Poor Margaret got sick and had to miss the trip. But after much needed rest, she rallied and was ready to tour the city and go out for a nice rooftop dinner at the foot of the Acropolis.

Me at the Parthenon

This is the rock at the foot of the Acropolis that St. Paul is said to have preached to the Athenians.

I haven't seen so many stray dogs and cats, since my trip to St. Martin. They were everywhere and our companion Jonathan went to great lengths to welcome them to our dismay.

Somehow I got really sunburned on a rainy day in Athens. This was a great rooftop restaurant where we had kebabs and gyros (before we were sick of eating them).

May 21st - Margaret was feeling better, so I took her on a tour of the Acropolis. Sharing with her all the information I learned on the walking tour. Afterwards we met up with Maisie and Jonathan at the Archeological Museum. Athens was full of beautiful history, but I realize that it just isn't the kind of city I would stay in for very long. You can see where they fixed things up for the most recent Olympics, but it's since gone downhill. We spent the day walking around and funny enough, ended our Athens trip with dinner at a German restaurant.

Maisie, me and Margaret.

Artwork on a building.

Boy and horse at the Archeological Museum.

Coconuts!

Our German Dinner

View from the Philloppous Hill.

Intro

2007-06-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a 2 week vacation to Europe with my friend Margaret and 2 of her Michigan business school "bschool" friends. One of them, Maisie, was really into blogging and it really inspired me to try it out. So here it goes...