crafts

I have decided I need more crafts in my life. I have been trying to learn how to use my grandmother's sewing machine, but have encountered some problems. I think I need some professional help, until I can afford the expensive sewing classes I have decided I will try to lean how to embroider. I bought this book by Austin local Jenny Hart from Domy (neato local bookshop). I am also going to make this quilt (well a slight variation, as I will only be using various shades of green). Purl Bee is a great site and has so many creative ideas.

i got my texas driver's license...

... i guess that means the move is official!

things in austin have been super so far. i am a super nanny with a nanny agency called mom's best friend, which basically means i passed the background check and participated in two training sessions. things are a bit slow at the moment, but hopefully it will all pick up in the next few weeks. the house is coming together (we still need to get a coffee table). i really like my room, probably one of the best i have had in awhile. i would post a picture, but i seem to have lost my camera in the move. i will have to hunt it down this weekend.

i have met a few people since moving down here, but that will pick up in january as i will be going back to school. i was accepted as a non-degree seeking student which means i will be going back for a post-bac in speech pathology. hopefully i will do well enough to get into the graduate program in about a year and a half. this means i will probably be settled here in austin for about 4 or 5 years, which will be a good thing.

went to a monster exhibit at domy books with shannon and stewart yesterday. while talking to the guy who worked there i found out that jenny hart will be putting on a show in the spring. very exciting stuff!

this is just a short update for those of you who still check the blog regularly. i need to get back into the habit of updating it on a regular basis.

halloween

halloween in austin was a good time! sarah had to work later than she thought... a lot later, so by the time she came home and we got dressed it was almost 11. we went to a house party her friends told us about.

zombie girl scout and rag doll from HELL!!!!!


sarah with luke (who didnt dress up at all...)


can i have some flesh cookies please?


luke let me drive his 1957 dodge! i have to get one of these.

this is where i live now.

i officially live in austin the city! we found a place right next to shoal creek and it is super super central. time to make up for all that time commuting from lakeway.

my room. it now has a bed and should be getting a desk in the next week or so.


view from the balcony.


kitchen. soooo many cabinets.


living room area.


dining room/stairs.


i like the blue detail tiles.


my street!

we are the one on the left.


communal sitting area out the back.


sorry it has taken so long to get pictures up. things have been pretty hectic around here, and without a regular source of internet i slacked off quite a bit. we will have internet installed on friday so i hope to post more regularly.

chicago was a great trip (ages ago...). it was so nice to visit with conor for a few days. he seems to really like his life there. here are some links for things i did. it was so long ago i dont remember everything, and i cant seem to find my journal records.

chickpea
art institute of chicago
surgery museum (free on tues)
graceland cemetery

this could be why i dont have a job...

... i spend all my time making these.

austin

finally made it to austin! it was an exciting drive with grandpa, we did the whole thing in one go. he was a good travel partner, however i did have to repeat myself.... a lot.

the condo is great! here are a few pictures sarah sent me before i arrived (i cant seem to find my camera, im sure it is in here somewhere).

stairs. sarah is upstairs and i am downstairs.


living room.


kitchen.


courtyard.


upstairs balcony.


the place is huge so come visit everyone!

ill post a summary of the chicago trip within the next few days.

vacation weekend

im super excited to head to chicago tomorrow. it will be good to see conor, jenny comes in on wed as well! then finally tyler and i will hang out on fri night.
soooo... for those of you not going out of town this holiday weekend, have a mini vacation with your computer. i found this site a few years ago, but rediscovered it earlier today when going through my old bookmarks.
enjoy the holiday everyone!

extraordinarily lucky

man oh man pickathon was great! ill get some pictures up soon, ill also write a more extensive description.

this post is to point out how lucky i am. i have been able to visit so many places in the last six months, which means i have been able to visit with almost every single influential person in my life (this includes present influences as well as previously influential). thanks so much to everyone who has let me stay with them, met up for coffee, met up for dinner and everything in between. i dont know how i do it, but i really do seem to meet the best people in the world.

thanks everyone for reminding me how important it is to stay in touch with the people you care about.

bird video

oh yeah! lindsay loved this video.

new mexico

this last week i was lucky enough to get down to new mexico to visit lindsay. she moved there a few months ago and is in a small town called placitas. it is about five and a half hours south of colorado springs, right off of i-25. the drive was pretty uneventful (which is what you hope for during such a long drive!) and the scenery was much greener then i was anticipating.
lindsay and john's house is amazing; it is adobe and located in a small subdivision. most of the houses in the area are empty, so they don't really have any neighbors. the whole thing kind of reminded me of arrested development.
after john got home we watched the tour de france, then lindsay and i went for a walk. it was amazing to see all the different bugs and lizards. at one point we saw what we thought was a little animal skull, turned out to be a rotten avocado pit. i guess our imaginations got the best of us! after the walk we watched little miss sunshine and made some pizzas.

7.10.2009
lindsay and i decided to go to santa fe for the day. i was interested in seeing the georgia o'keeffe museum and my friend pam suggested we check out SITE santa fe. the artists showing at the moment are klara kristalova, ruben ochoa, and brent green. out of the three i have say i liked kristalova the best, but the green videos were also pretty interesting. after the museum we walked and visited some art galleries in the area. we found a shop called the spanish table and i bought some chorizo for john (he is originally from spain). we bought some frozen yogurt and tried to find our way to ghost ranch. we found ghost ranch in santa fe, however it was just a convention center and not the ranch that inspired o'keeffe. turns out that ghost ranch is about 60 miles outside of santa fe.
we walked down to the georgia o'keeffe museum, which has free entry after 5 pm on fridays. we drove back to placitas and went to the flying star cafe for dinner. since it was friday night they had live music; the combo of company, music, and the outside patio made it a perfect evening.
we popped into under charlie's covers to check out some fine used books before finally heading home.
we watched ratatouille and went to bed.

7.11.2009
lindsay had a dance class so i hung around the house writing letters while she went off to do her thing. she got back to the house and we drove into albuquerque to visit old town. its a neat area, but super touristy. the main purpose of our trip into town was to stop into the rattlesnake museum. i'm not going to lie, it was super rad. i would suggest going there if you visit albuquerque, it was only 5 bucks to get in. i had no idea there were so many different kinds of rattlesnakes. after the museum we walked around for awhile, then headed back to her house.
we sat on the porch for a long time talking and watched little bunnies run around her yard (her rock yard). john suggested that we go to the sandia casino for dinner and a taste of placitas culture. it was a great dinner and the view from the top of the casino was amazing.

7.12.2009
lindsay and i decided to make the drive to the other ghost ranch, where o'keeffe actually lived. on our way there we stopped into a flea market where lindsay found a genuine steer skull. she bought it for the house to add some new mexico flair to their living room.
the scenery was amazing; all of the reds, yellows and oranges really make for an interesting sight. when we got to ghost ranch we were surprised at how little there was there. the scenery was amazing, but the whole place had the feel of some kind of rehab facility. we walked around for a bit then decided our time would be better spent going across the highway to abiquiu lake. however, while at ghost ranch we did meet a 41 year old horse named lady bug.
we hit up the lake and put our feet in the cold water. there were a ton of people there, most of them were riding around on jet skis.
lindsay had to be home by 6 for a conference call with her comic book guild, so we headed back to her house. john grilled a lot of veggies and made a delicious veggie casserole. he is a wonderful cook and we ate on the back porch. they really are a great match.
after eating we watched borat (i had never seen it before) and i was in bed by about ten. i had to get up at about 5:30 the next morning to drive down to texas.

now i am in houston visiting with my aunt carolyn and uncle david. ill be heading to austin on friday to see shannon and clint, then it is back to colorado. after being home for a few days ill be driving to portland with kim for the pickathon music festival. ill post more once i cover some more miles!

pickathon 2009

hello all!
i will be volunteering at this year's pickathon music festival in portland. im going to be driving the beetle out there, so if anyone wants to tag along let me know. i have three extra seats at the moment.
tooooooodles!
joan

san francisco. my kind of place.

my trip to san francisco was wonderful! brian and colin joined me for the first few days, then i was able to spend a lot of time with emma.

5/26/2009
-woke up pretty early so i could pack for the trip (i have a bad habit of waiting until the last minute to pack; however, i am getting pretty good at it and was able to keep my baggage down to my backpack).
-helen was heading up to cheley so she dropped me off at the airport on her way.
-the first plane was uneventful. the second plane i was upgraded to first class!
-brian and colin were running late due to weather. since i wasnt listed on the hotel reservations
and it was prepaid i wasnt allowed to check into the room until brian got there. so i left my bag with reception and walked around until about ten when they finally got in.
-we walked around union square area for a little while then stopped into a thai restaurant for dinner.

5/27/2009
-since the boys were used to being on eastern time and we were in the western time zone we all woke up about 8 am. we adventured next door to the taylor street coffee shop for some grub.
-we then made our way toward fisherman's wharf, which was on the other side of hills like this one. the hills were so steep they actually had steps cut into them. great for the buttocks.
-our first stop at fisherman's wharf was the musee mecanique, which has all kinds of antique arcade machines. i took some videos.



-after continuing to walk down the pier we decided to take a little boat ride around the bay. the tour was pretty good, our boat was full of french tourists. we were given personal headsets to listen to some history about the bay. it was amazing how much colder it was out on the water! the bay is a beautiful place anyway.
-once the boat trip finished we stopped in boudin's for some soup. then we walked up to ghiradeli square. we found a neat art gallery called dennis rae. amberlee rosolowich is one of my new favorite artists.
-after some consideration we decided to buy a city pass since it included most of the museums we were interested in visiting, as well as unlimited bus/cable car rides. if you are going to san francisco, this is a real deal.
-we caught the cable car back to our hotel (brian rode on the side in the front of the car!!!).
-emma came round for dinner. we walked up hills (both ways!!) to north beach and ate at a restuarant called the stinking rose. apparently it is a bit touristy, but it was pretty tasty. garlic ice cream is actually better than you would think.

5/28/2009
-woke up around 9 then headed out for coffee at a little cafe.
-colin figured out the bus system and we headed out for the academy of sciences. this is one amazing museum. they have an aquarium, platetarium, living roof, and all kinds of neato stuff.
-after exploring for a few hours we stopped in for some dim sum. pretty much everything was super meaty so i ate too many seasame seed balls... puke-o-rama.
-stopped into the hotel for some R&R and ate dinner at mel's drive in.
-i was so tired when we got back i fell asleep in my clothes.

5/29/2009
-had breakfast at our usual place then headed out to the exploratorium. my favorite station had these hot and cold coils twisted together, when you placed your hands on the coils it sent conflicting information to your brain (is this hot? is this cold?). it would read your experience as pain, however it wasnt actually painful.
-we walked all the way through the marina district and ended up back in fisherman's wharf. i love being able to just walk and be able to figure out how different neighborhoods connect.
-had some dinner and headed back to the hotel. i played amateur surgeon on brian's iphone, im so addicted.

5/30/2009
-brian and colin's last day!
-went to the museum of modern art for a few hours before heading down to the mission district to meet up with my cousin's friend anhoni. she works for sf station, a cultural guide to san francisco.
-stopped into mission pie for a slice, then we headed towards valencia street. we stopped in all kinds of boutiques. they sold everything from stationary to taxidermy mice. we also walked down some of the mural alleys.
-headed back to the hotel to pick our bags since we were checking out. we had dinner in the restaurant downstairs, then the boys headed to the airport and i headed to emma's.
-emma's house was having this massive party. her housemate does painting in the backyard and decided to have a mini-art gallery opening in their house. he set up a big board out the back and they spray painted designs.

finished picture


back of emma's house


went to bed about 3 am. pretty rad party, everyone was incredibly friendly.

5/31/2009
-woke up about ten and listened to the lucksmiths until emma and oliver got up. we made our way down mission street to a little mexican grocery where we bought wonderful fruit and things to make croissantwiches.
-after eating oliver had to go pick up his bike. emma's friends emma and matt stopped by for some socializing. we were going to go play kickball, but it was canceled last minute.
-we sat around talking for a few hours then started to make our way to oliver's house in oakland. matt and bonnie were driving so i squeezed into the truck with them. emma took the bart.
-oliver's house is amazing. all the rooms have lofted beds, which isnt that bad considering the ceilings are unbelievably tall. the back yard is a monster yard! emma will be moving there so she plans to make it into a nice garden. also during the summer bonnie and matt will be living in a tent in the backyard. it will be a great place over the summer.
-we cooked dinner. we had black eyed peas, cooked greens, corn bread and key lime pie.
-stayed on the couch. i had a weird dream about melbourne.

6/1/2009
-woke up and showered. sat with emma for some one on one time. it was wonderful to see her! seemed like we had just hung out last week. i think it will always be that way with her.
-before heading back to san francisco emma had to check on her bees. YES BEES! they were amazing, such calm creatures. i was only wearing my normal clothes and didnt get stung.











-we caught the bart back into the city. san francisco seems like it has qualities from all the places i have lived, im 90% sure i will be moving there once i figure out logistics.
-we hit up the mission for some burritos and sat in dolores park for a while. talking talking talking.
-emma needed to do some research so we went to a coffee shop. i wrote postcards while she worked on her computer. emma number 2 came down and joined us for a walk back to emma's house.
-we stayed in and watched netflix movies while drinking wine.

6/2/2009
-headed to get bagel sandwiches in the mission. emma needed to do a lot more research so i hit the city on my own.
-i caught a bus to the presidio. this area is amazing because you go from being in residential areas to a forest just by crossing the street! while walking through i didnt see a single person until i got to the national cemetery. i then found my way to the pet cemetery (katherine told me about it!).









-i continued along until i reached crissy field. i walked around the exploritorium again. then i heard from emma and we were going to meet up at the conservatory of flowers (most museums are free the first tues of the month. good thing to know). then i looked in my guide book and realized it closed at 4:30, it was 4:20. we met up in haight and ashbury instead. we did some window shopping, i eventually broke down and bought some cute clothes for my nephew.
-andrew was going to meet us at casanova around 7:30 for drinks. i had never met andrew before, he used to work for radio 1190 and is one of the best tour guides in all of san francisco. he has been living there for about eight years and from what i could tell knew everyone in the mission. we had some thai food then got ice cream from bi-rite creamery. they are known for mixing weird flavors like salt/caramel or balsamic/strawberry. emma had to head home after ice cream so andrew and i went to a bar for some more talking.
-he walked me back to emma's and i went to bed.

6/3/2009
-emma and i did a whole lot of nothing. we cooked some coconut rice with mango and had fruit salad. her friend tara came over for a visit. tara is wonderful, we got along so well.
-emma was helping her friend tovy (tovi?) put on an event called risky business old surfers of the second wave. i am pretty sure this is the exact event, i didnt keep up with my journal the last few days. since emma was volunteering i went out to dinner with tara and her friends. after watermelon margaritas and smores nachos tara and i went to a bar near emma's to wait for her. went home and went to bed.
-it was my last full day!

6/4/2009
-woke up and packed all my stuff back up. enjoyed a coffee with emma and caught the bart to the airport. it took a little bit longer than i thought it would to get there, i almost missed my flight. however i was extremely lucky and the plane had been delayed, by the time i got through security the plane was just pulling up to the gate. it was a direct flight from san francisco to denver.
-my dad picked me up and we drove back to the springs.

i am now located in colorado springs until i figure out my next step. if anyone knows of any part time jobs etc please let me know! i am not sure where i will be moving (denver and san francisco are my two top choices), and i am open to just about anything. for the meantime i will be buying a bike and taking up hobbies. suggestions welcome.

san francisco update

fortunately there was a lot of interest in my road trip to san francisco, unfortunately no one could actually commit due to grown up responsibilities. therefore i am flying to san francisco on tues may 26th and will be there until june 4th. luckily brian has a few days off so he and colin are going to fly out from kentucky for a few days! super exciting.

hopefully this trip will give me a better idea of where i want to end up!

adventures with sally ball

sally and i went to copenhagen and malmo sweden.

day 1 4/29/2009
*got into the hostel about 6 pm. it seemed like a nice place, however upon staying there it was dirty and kind of gross.
*went to the gas station to get a drink. they have coin machines you pay with rather than giving the attendant your money. sally and i were very confused by this and when the girl started talking to us in danish we were consumed with a giggle fit. the girl working thought it was funny too.
*figured out the trains and went into the city center. walked around and watched all the super hip people. it seemed like everyone was fashionable to the max.
*stopped into sam's bar for some cheap chinese food. became entranced by danish karaoke. we asked sally's friend sophie what this song was about, apparently it is about a parrot from america.

day 2 4/30/2009
*went into the city and walked around again.
*sat in the king's gardens and had coffee. then found a grocery store and bought an ice cream each.
*walked down to the water's edge and saw the opera house.
*walked back to the center of town and found a little courtyard filled with locals drinking beer. sally and i sat for a bit, then some gentlemen at the table next to us accidentally threw a cork at us. in an effort to apologize they poured their beer into our beer glasses and created a super beer.
*sat in a public square and ate pizza then headed back to the hostel.

day 3 5/1/2009
*before going to malmo this was the only thing we had seen.
*caught the train to malmo, sweden (which only took 20 min!). since we both loves trains we were a little disappointed the trip was so short.
*malmo was a quiet city, we forgot may 1st is a public holiday so a lot of places were closed.
*walked for a few hours then had some wine at a nice restaurant. bought some food from the grocery and cooked at the hostel. had ballerina cookies.

day 4 5/2/2009
*walked into the city along the malmo stad. enjoyed looking at the lake and seeing all the street.
*stopped in the lilla torg for some coffee at the rock and folk cafe. exchanged drinking stories.
* went to the design and form centre.
*found internet and tried to book our hostel in copenhagen, but we were unsuccessful. decided we would just wing it once we got back there.
*had lunch at falafel 1.
*sat in the park for a bit before going back to the hostel. once at the hostel we were hit on by a disgusting polish man, he was waaaaay too interested.

day 5 5/3/2009
*caught the train back to denmark. thought about taking the ferry, however once on the train i was glad we didnt because the water looked super rough.
*found a hostel with room but couldn't check in for a few hours. so we went and sat in a public square and had lunch.
*bought some wine from a bottle shop then went back to the hostel so jesper could pick us up for dinner.
*saw sophie and jesper's house. it was super super cute. it was part of an apartment building and had a giant courtyard out the back. they walked us down to the water, near the oprah house. we also saw the little mermaid, we were worried she was not going to be there since she is taking a trip to china soon.

day 6 5/4/2009
*jesper picked us up about 11 to go to the viking museum in roskilde. it was about an hours drive from copenhagen.
*sally and i tried on viking clothing and sat in viking ships. its amazing that they can trace their history back so far!
*after arriving back in copenhaged jesper took us out for open faced sandwiches and beer. we ate them in the courtyard behind his house.
*after lunch jesper dropped us off at the round tour in the city. sally and i climbed to the top then got our daily danish ice creams and headed to the hostel.
*sat and read for a bit then made our way to bobi bar. this was probably one of my favorites places in copenhagen, the atmosphere was comfortable and it was full of locals.
*had sam's chinese again then went to lades and back to the hostel.

day 7 5/5/2009
*the weather had been wonderful the whole time we were in denmark, then on the last day it was rainy and cold.
*walked down to christiania. had a danish danish! and coffee along the way.
*walked around the center of town and did a little shopping. i bought a new bag from a german company (which was good because my main bag sally was borrowing broke at the airport...). we went to marimekko and i found a wonderful little black dress. sally bought a mustard coat.
*stopped in thomas's sandwich bar for a sandwich.
*had to head straight to the airport after lunch. got back into london pretty late.

final day in england. 5/6/2009
*walked around london for a bit with sally. visited the orangery for tea, anyone who visited me in london knows this is one of my favorite things to do.
*met with david for dinner at bistro one.
*went to the commercial tavern with sally and then back to her house for bed.

vietnam- the third week

long overdue and i have had trips in between... better late than never i guess!

monday february 16th
*woke up kind of early to head out on a trekking adventure through sapa.
*tom paired us with Vu, a 19 year old hmong girl (she looked about 12)
*had a mini entourage of hmong girls. there were three young girls 10-15, one 21 year old girl who was married at 14 and has tow sons aged 1 and 3.
*walked downhill for a few hours while the young girls bounced around on the rocks like mountain goats!
*the views were amazing and the weather was perfect.
*once we were to the village we were attacked by a touting mob. bought a few things from the girls who helped lead us down the mountain.
*after lunch Vu walked us through the village she grew up in. we saw her school and she told us stories about people from her village. apparently there was an albino child.
*took a van back up to the hotel and arrived back about 3. we hung around the lobby area and walked around a bit. caught a bus at 4:30 to go back to cao lao.
*got on the train, which was a beautiful business class cabin. there were bottles of water, proper blankets and air conditioning. since the person who booked our tickets messed up the dates they upgraded us for free.
*the door became jammed and we were stuck in the cabin for about 20 min. we screamed until a lady opened the door... may not have been jammed...

tuesday february 17th
*arrived in hanoi at 4:00 am.
*took a taxi back to the hotel. it was one with a speedy meter, so i had to stand up to the guy and refused to pay three times as much for the ride. we paid him about 50,000 dong (it usually costs 30,000). the guy was arguing with me but as soon as the receptionist opened the door to the hotel the taxi driver ran off.
*since it was so early our room was not ready. there was an elderly couple leaving so the receptionist gave us the key to their room so we could sit somewhere more comfortable. those people were booooze hounds. there wer three bottle of empty rum. i finished reading high fidelity and slept for about two hours.
*we had breakfast and headed to the ethnography museum abut 12:00.
*the museum was a bit further out than we had anticipated, but well worth it. it had so much information about the different tribes we saw in sapa. i think it was a good thing we went after traveling around vietnam since we were able to recognize some of the clothing etc that we had seen. out in the back there were all kinds of life sized huts.
*there was a wedding shoot going on outside. not sure it was for real or for a magazine shoot.
*went back to the hotel to write postcards. then went out for gin and tonics at a bar called mao's.

wednesday february 18th
*woke up at 4:30 am to catch a taxi to the airport.
*we were all a bit hungover from the gins... so we bought pringles and coke. breakfast of champions.
*arrived in hue and took a taxi to the hotel. since our rooms werent ready we had breakfast. then they offered to move us to another hotel (they said it was a part of the chain), which was not as nice as the hotel we had prepaid for.
*we asked another guest how much they were paying for their rooms and it turns out they were paying have as much as we had pre-paid for the other place. sandi got our passports back from the front desk and we went back to the original hotel and demanded a room.
*went walking while they got our rooms together. when we got back the rooms were ready and amazing. there were flower petals on the bed! in the bathtub! it was like a romantic holiday get away with sandi! :P
*went to the citidel for lunch. it was interesting because we were some of the only tourists so we were being watched all the time.
*we didnt have a card for the hotel so we had a hard time figuring out where to go. eventually we figured out where we were and stopped to have dinner at an italian restaurant.
*sandi and i watched a horribel thriller movie on hbo when we got back. which was a bti sad since neither of us like scarey movies!

thursday february 19th
*woke up about 7 and headed to the citidel again. bought tickets to get into the imperial citidel.
*there was a pond near the front gate full of fish. you could buy food and throw it into the water and the fish would swim all over eachother, crushing one another into the wall. it was the most disgusting thing i have ever seen.
*walked all over the gardens and through the buildings. it is a massive palace. it was very serene and calming to be there. a lot of the buildings are being restored so there was lots of work going on.
*we tried to go to the royal fine arts museum but it had been moved to the other side of town. so we trekked over to the new location, which was a royal house built in about 1917 and is currently being restored. sandi was very helpful to have along since she does similar restoration in australia.
*went to the tropical garden restaurant for dinner and saw traditional vietnamese musicians.

friday february 20th
*decided to rent bicycles and hire a boat to take us down the river so we could see the royal tombs.
*the boat we hired out was actually a family home. it was run by a husband and wife. we payed extra for lunch and stopped by the market so the wife could go in to get the food.
*they took us to the thien mu pagoda first. then we stopped on a steeeeeep bank. we had to carry our bikes up this sharp incline in order to get to the road that went to the tombs. we visited the minh mang, and tu duc tombs. unfortunately this is the only day i didnt actually write about in my journal so most of this is coming from my memory.
*it was beautiful to be on the boat going up the river. i wish that we had rented bikes earlier and had ridden around the area a bit more. to be honest i think this was probably the best day in vietnam. it was so beautiful and everything seemed so peaceful on the water and at the tombs.

saturday february 21st
*walked to the citadel from our hotel and had an 8 course imperial lunch at a touristy restaurant. it was over priced and not very good. however it was pretty cool to see the imperial cuisine.
*after lunch we had to catch a taxi in order to get to the airport for our flight to ho chi minh.
*went to blue river, it was nice to be back somewhere familiar! turns out the place was full so thuy set us up in another hotel not too far away. unlike hue we knew this was not a scam, thuy said we were her vips! she was a wonderful girl and works very hard. the place was a bit less expensive as well which was nice. also seemed to be filled with vietnamese people rather than tourist.
*i fell ill (damn overpriced imperial cuisine!) and couldnt eat the mixed noodles the girls got from a local food stall (by mixed i mean tongue, kidney, liver and who knows what else).
*watched a bit of bee movie, felt miserable and fell asleep.

sunday february 22nd
*the hotel was super quiet and since i was exhaused from being sick i slept extemely well and woke up feel like a million bucks the next day.
*moved back to the original blue river after breakfast.
*went to the ben thanh markets and went shopping crazy since it was sandi's last day.
*finally bought a copy of the quiet american (inside joke), well i didnt buy it. it was a gift from sally. it was a photocopied version so some of the words are glued into the binding...
*went to this crazy restaurant near the hotel for dinner. they had weasle, dove, pidgeon, tortise, and everything inbetween. minna and sally ordered the hot pot and the whole restaurant laughed at us while we tried to eat it.
*finished dinner then sandi had to head to the airport to head back to melbourne.
*went helmet shoping for minna.
*had massive sandi-withdrawl.
*had a beer then went back to the hotel for bed.

monday february 23rd
*massive phantom sandi attack.
*we did a bit of a quiet american tour. found dong khoi street and stopped in the continental for drinks (at 11...). we sat and talked for a few hours in the air conditioning, which was wonderful.
*took a cooking class. which really didnt have any cooking invovled, basicly we just has bowls of ingredients we had to measure out and mix together. the 'cooking school' did everything else.
*traded pictures with sally.

tuesday february 24th
*had a final breakfast at blue river.
*went to the spa and had facials.
*packed up all of our things.
*moved sally to her new hotel, he dad was going to meet her a few hours after we left.
*caught a taxi to the airport and flew back to melbourne.

my trip to vietnam was amazing, anyone who is thinking of going should go as soon as they can (it will probably get very touristy in the next few years). it was beautiful and very easy to get around. i think it is safe to say it was one of the best trips of my life. thanks so much again to minna, sally and sandi for traveling with me. if ever you get a chance to travel with any of these girls, dont pass it up.

san francisco

i am planning on going to san francisco about may 26th - june 7 and i am trying to decide if i should drive or fly. is anyone interested in joining me for a road trip? please let me know!
xoxo
j

still in england

ive been in england since my family left about two weeks ago. that first weekend i was lucky enough to stay with sara and andreas, however since i had the flu they were not so lucky... costas and tiffany invited me to their house for easter dinner, a bbq on the back porch. it was a great mix of people and it was great to see the two of them. they both look wonderful and are busy planning their wedding which will take place in greece next year. after that i went to bristol to stay with alex and stephen for about a week. it was nice to help alex with her errands during the day then sit down to dinner once stephen got home. most nights were spent catching up with british tv shows/count downs like this one. this was the top song, we didn't even see it coming.
unfortunately alex and stephen had to go out of town for a few days but fortunately for me sally made the trek to bristol (only two hours by train) for a weekend of fun! we went out to a gig at a place called the mother's ruin the first night, but the bands weren't very good. this meant that we drank too much, then went back home to cook up veggie sausages. all in all a fun night! since the weather was nice we did a fair bit of walking around the town and made it down to the clifton suspension bridge.
after leaving bristol i went to trowbridge for a few days with mary. i always like visiting with mary when no one else is around, she seems to be a lot less stressed. i didn't do much for those few days since it is so difficult for mary to leave the house and i didn't have a car. since the weather has been so nice we were able to spend the afternoons in the garden drinking tea, then i would go for walks and do some reading. hard to believe that when doing so little the days could go by so quickly!
i am now back in london again and staying with sally. the crayon fields played a gig at the buffalo bar the night before last so sally and i met up with them. amos met up with us a little later. it was a good night, even though the crayon fields were so were nervous!
yesterday was the anniversary of the carnation revolution. sally lives with a couple from portugal and they hosted a small dinner to celebrate (only about 9 people). since i have never met anyone from portugal it was interesting to hear them talk about their lives back home, and their memories of revolution celebrations. for most of them their parents were actually involved, hard to believe something like this happened so recently. after talking until about 1:00 i was feeling pretty shattered so i skipped off to bed.
not sure what the next few days will have in store but sally and i will be heading to coppenhaged on wed (very exciting!). ill try to be on top of things and actually take some pictures.

the oexmanns invade england- part 2

im just going to get straight into the pictures!

amy on a lady bike.


tommy with james at sally lunn.


my dad has been bought out by american airlines.


gillian meets her god son's son.


charles, maria and james in front of shockerwick.


the cathedral in steeple ashton.


alex and stephen's house in bristol.


grandpa with james. helen is watching.


grandpa with alex.


group shot!


another group shot. everyone LOOK AT THE CAMERA!


dyrham park.


amy running like a deer...


handsome family.




charles with yani.


mary's house.


i like to look at amy through the window....


exactly how many people are in this photo?


we stayed near the butts. helen was really close.


mom with teapots.


where did grandpa go?


tommy and grandpa enjoying a pint before the art show.


jenevera, grandpa and graham.


grandpa and graham.


colvin telling me my duties.


michael, sasha and larissa.


group.


graham with tommy.


grandpa, jenevera and tommy.


giving the purchase prize winner his award.


kiddo awards.


children EVERYWHERE.


the prize winner in the adult competition.


michael (one of the original staff who helped grandpa start the award) and grandpa.


sahsa and michael.


sasha, michael, larissa and james.


sahsa with james.


james with grandma joan's picture.


the awards room.




kiddo pictures.


kiddo pictures.


kiddo pictures.


adult gallery.


adult pictures.


adult pictures


adult pictures.


graham, grandpa and david.


the museum gave grandpa some books.


grandpa taking in some artwork.


this is the man who started it all.


adult table at dinner.


dessert zombie.


adult table... kids table.


dad, jenevera and david.


helen and me.


action shot!


david.


that is it for the 2009 oexmann art award. thanks to everyone who participated and we will see you all again in two years!