Miami Trip part I

When we left Frederick the weather was miserable...raining, cloudy and cold. We packed up the car (and I mean literally packed the car so much that I was scared for Rob who was going to drive!) and left Frederick around mid-day. We didn't manage to go too far and stopped in Williamsburg for lunch. It is a lovely town, mainly with old English buildings and very much in the holiday spirit. We went to the cheese shop where I could not believe my eyes, there they were, all stacked up and waiting for me. Dutch cheese!!!! So I got some Emental (Swiss) for Rob and Old Amsterdam for me!!! We ordered some sandwiches and drinks and sat outside to eat. The weather was good in Williamsburg (its about 3 hours from Frederick) not as cold as the weather back home. We left and did another 3 hour drive and stopped at a truckers stop for dinner and then stopped in a Motel by the road to sleep and have an early start the next day. The motel was not bad at all, simple and clean. The next morning we had an early start, we left the motel at 7:00 am we traveled as much as we could without stopping, we had only a long stop when we reached Florida for dinner. We traveled a total of 14 hours in one day, we were knackered, to put it mildly. We arrived in Miami at 12:30 am and the apartment we are renting is just perfect. Simon (Rob's brother) came to greet us and stayed a couple of hours. He left at 2:00 am and Rob and I went for a quick beer. We went to sleep at 3:30 am, tired but happy we managed to arrive! Miami is great, the weather has been kind, some showers but nothing that wont stop you from walking around. Rob and I managed to go the the beach for a couple of hours but the water was cold and it was not so hot to go in. Hopefully tomorrow we can go to the beach and enjoy the weather. Today I went with Jakie (Simon's wife) to Yoga, it was just great, I haven't done any Yoga since I arrived in the US so it was just great to loosen all my muscles. Jackie is in her spare time a Pilate's teacher so she took me to the fitness center were she works. Very nice place, the Yoga teacher was awesome! I was very very stiff so many of the moves I was not able to accomplish, but it made me realise how much I missed Yoga. I might start it again in Frederick. Well, will upload some more pictures of Christmas when I am back home. We are staying here till the 26th of Dec but I hope we can get home on the 27th. Well I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! Have a happy holiday's !!!! Enjoy the slide show:

Engagement Dinner & Morning After

I organised our engagement dinner at the "Tasting Room". Its a really nice restaurant down town and the food is something to die for. Its a small restaurant but we were only 9 people so I booked the small private room for us. We arrived and I asked for my cosmopolitan and Rob ordered a bottle of Champagne. Peter (Rob's dad) gave the toast. We all talked about how many times everyone in New Skies (Rob's job) had made bets on when Rob would pop the question and also everyone agreed that we took our time! Everyone was very happy for us and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The food was great, I ordered a beef tartar as a starter and a file Mignon steak for the main. I had a chocolate martini for dessert. We stayed at the restaurant till 12:00 and than we went for drinks at the local pub (Firestone) next to the restaurant. Rob and I had a great time but we missed everyone who was not here with us; we wished everyone could have been here with us. The next morning Rob woke me up and everything was white, it snowed! It was really beautiful, everything was covered with 5 inches of snow. I made blueberry pancakes and than I went for a walk to take some pictures. Well everyone hope you enjoy both slide shows. I miss everyone!

Harper's Ferry Trip II

I have been in Harper's Ferry in Summer but in Autumn is beautiful with all the warm colours. We went down only to have lunch and see some parts that Rob and I hadn't seen yet. There is a big rock on the cliff with loads of engravings and some date back to the time of the civil war! I was also attacked by loads of lady bugs hahah on my way up the hill to the rock, they were everywhere on my hair, coat, camera, etc... We had a nice lunch in one of the restaurants and kept exploring the village. We saw a house with two little kittens sitting and playing on the porch it was so cute. It was a very nice afternoon outing. I also bought a recipe book from the civil war which I already tried a recipe for pie crust which was very nice. Well everyone, hope you enjoy the pictures, I need to go cause I have my engagement dinner tonight. Will take pictures of course and put it on the blog for all of you to see. Miss all of you!

I Have a Dream

Another beautiful day in Maryland. Although its cold and crisp the sun is shinning! The weather was so nice that we decided to go down to Washington DC and do some sight seeing. We arrived at 12:00pm, we had some well deserved Starbucks to start before heading to our very long walk. Our first stop was the National Archives were you can see the original documents of the Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights, The Constitution, The Amendment to abolish slavery and all the letters and other info from all the other documents. All this is located at the main chamber called Rotunda -Charters of Freedom, its a big room with very little light so the old documents don't get damaged (you can take pictures but no flash). The documents are all on display in a round fashion, hence the name Rotunda. It was great to see, specially when you can see all the drafts of the Constitution before the final one was signed. I saw Benjamin's Franklin's signature he had a beautiful penmanship, it was really cool. We left after that because we still wanted to go see the Washington Monument, World War II memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

We headed to the Washington Monument and on the way passed through a nice botanical sculpture garden and walked all the way to the monument. The thing is so big that you can see it from miles and you think," Its right there after that street..." few blocks later and you're still not there yet. We finally got there and the big spear (or big phallus) is very impressive, it is huge. You cant stop thinking if the person who thought of this had something to compensate (hahaha). After taking some more pictures we decided not to go up because we needed to get tickets half a mile away where we walked before, so we thought we just carry on to the World War II memorial. Oh by the way all the museums and monuments are all free, even going up to the Washington monument or entering the archives is free of charge, I thought this was the coolest!

The World War II memorial is relatively new it was opened in 2004. It's name says it all , it honors all the people who served and died on the war. I was really impressed by the copper sculptures of different war images (sculptor Ray Kaskey). There were several with the women who were working in the factories during the war. I thought that was great to see. Also there was a quote about women and the war, I think it's great that we are finally being recognised and printed in stone to show our contribution in history! The monument has several pillars in a oval circle which represent all the states in the US. A big fountain in the middle and two pavilions in opposites sides of each other, one saying Pacific and the other Atlantic. Its really beautifully made, and there are quotes and significant dates set in stones. But the best was yet to come and you could already see him sitting there, looking from a far; almost like he is watching your every move. Like Big Brother.

We walked through this beautiful passage way with trees set one after each other. The wild geese where having their feeding break before heading again south for the winter and they were everywhere, I think at least a hundred of them eating grass. But finally we arrived at the Lincoln Memorial. Its a big white building with pillars. Its beautiful, the marmor from the steps and pillars are stunning. When you get to the top there is a huge stone sculpture of Lincoln sitting on a chair. Just to think that at the bottom of the steps in August 28, 1963, under a nearly cloudless sky, more than 250,000 people, a fifth of them white, gathered to demonstrate for "jobs and freedom." Martin Luther King gave his famous speech "I have a dream" that day. That place truly has so much history that you can almost feel it in the air.

After all this we cached a cab to go back to the parking garage so we could park the car on the street and go for dinner. By the time we got to the car it was 17:15pm, and we were really dead from all the walking, I think we walked 3 miles in total. So we parked and went to the brewery were they had very nice food and the place had great jazzy music. We ate and had some drinks and headed back home to Fredrick. I snoozed all the way home dreaming of the 1963 and how cool it would have been if I could have been there in the crowd, listening to the words of wisdom of Mr Luther! Well hope you all enjoy the slide show, all the pics are in the order of the post. If you have any questions or just something nice to say just leave a comment. Have a good one!

Christmas Market & East Side

Christmas is really hear. Ferderick is full of lights and the fair grounds are now showing the Maryland Christmas Show. So Peter, Tiiu and me went to the show to check it out. It was nice collection of different crafts booths where the main focus was Christmas. I got a nice door ornament, some beautiful tea, herbs (lavender) and so much more. I will give the link of the Tea because it is truly a great tea and an African American woman(the same age as me)grows them and puts the flavours together(you can buy her teas online). I really was enjoying myself that is why I only have three pictures, sorry guys! It was a beautiful crisp sunny afternoon and on the walk back I took some pictures of Frederick but of the East side of town. Well I hope you guys enjoy.

http://www.notjusttea.com/

Butternut Pumpkin Roast

This recipe is super easy and simple and it is gorgeous for the pallet. The recipe bellow makes two serving (2 people). It also can be made on the barbecue instead of in the oven but u still will need to use aluminum foil. Prep time: 1 hour . Check it out!

Ingredients are:
1 Butter Pumpkin medium size
2 tablespoons of Castor Sugar
Butter as much as you like ( I love putting loads)

Pre-heat oven 180C

Peel the pumpkin and cut them in halves and than in big chunky cubs.

In a medium size roasting pan cover the bottom with aluminum foil that it creates a bed for the pumpkin and all its juices. Put all the chunky cubed pumpkin in the roasting pan and sprinkle sugar all over them and than add the small pieces of butter all over the pumpkins. Cover the roasting pan with another sheet (big enough to cover all the roasting pan!) of aluminum foil.

When the oven is heated put the roasting pan in and leave it for about 20 minutes. Be careful not to over cook it or you'll have pumpkin puree instead of pumpkin roast. So after 15 minutes check if the chunks are tender with a fork. Take the top foil and than grill it for another 5 to 10 minutes just to make it a little crisp (keep an eye on the roast at this point so it doesn't burn). Take out of the oven and vuala! You have a delicious chunky sweet goodness to make your meal perfect. Enjoy everyone.

Thanksgiving Dinner

After so much preparation finally the day arrived. Although I didn't cook the turkey, I still needed to prepare my butternut pumpkin roast and my apple pie for the big day. Rob, his mother, father and I went to Uta and Lance's for Thanksgiving. I prepared my roast pumpkin the day before so Tiu and I could share the kitchen for the apple pie and sauerkraut. The house had all these different food smells in one day, it was lovely. We arrived at Uta's at 4:30 pm and the weather was typical for the season; lots of wind but clear and crisp. The leaves seemed to be running along the car to follow us to join us on Thanksgiving dinner. A beautiful orange pinky sun set made the setting just perfect. We arrived and greeted everyone including Lucas and Leo. Everyone was very cheery seeing its our first Thanksgiving in America. We opened a couple of beers and wine. Tiu gave the boys the top toys and they were thrilled. I also played a little with the boys and join the adults later for more drinks. The turkey was ready so we put all the food on the table and it was crowded. The smells of all the different dishes really made your mouth water. We gave a quick thanks and digged in. Silence fell upon the table expect for Luca's and Leo's chatter hahaha but after a couple of minutes everyone was talking and paying praise for Lance's culinary skills. After we were done we needed a couple of hours so we could fit the apple pie in our enlarged stomachs. We drank some shnapps to speed the digestion and later had some Kahlua cocktails with the apple pie. Leo rushed to me later that night and wanted to show me how grown up he is by using the potty...it was the sweetest thing I ever saw. The boys went to bed and we had a couple of more drinks and we had to leave because Rob had to work morning shift the next day. It was truly a wonderful evening. Frederick is already all decorated for Christmas and the day after Thanksgiving the Christmas sales start, so down town was all festive. Free hot coco, Santa arriving in his carriage, Christmas carols and all. It was really pretty but I didn't take any pics, forgot my camera =0(

Well everyone enjoy the slide show and check my post for the pumpkin recipe ok. Holiday greeting for all!

Meeting with Claire in Washington DC

It was just great when Claire called last week and told me she was scheduled to fly to Washington DC (its about 40 min from Frederick). I was very happy because I haven't seen her since our graduation in 2004. All of us from Uni still keep in touch but everyone just seems to be caring on with their lives and most of us moved to other countries. Claire was one, she went back home (Ireland). I haven't had a chance to go visit her yet so you can imagine how thrilled I was she was coming to the USA! So we planned that we would meet up in Washington, down town. Her Hotel was on the same street as the Brazilian Grill House. We needed to head off to Washington any way because Rob's Dad was arriving from Australia that night at 12:00 am. It was almost like everything was arranged for us to meet! So we met at the Brazilian restaurant at 19:30 pm. I was very happy in seeing her and she hasn't changed a bit, she is more fit than when we were at Uni. We had a lovely dinner with all the Brazilian goodness to make any gathering a special one. We had also some great wine and wonderful deserts. By the end of the meal I was in pain because, I of course, over did it! We went down to her hotel and had some more drinks. We talked about how is everything in Dublin and I updated her on how everyone else was doing. She talked about her wedding arrangments (for those who don't know , Claire is engaged too). We laughed about Uni times in Walsall and before we knew it I had to go because we still had to pick up Rob's dad. It was a sad goodbye but we promised to do this again and I told her I would go to Dublin for her wedding! Ohh I really missed her and I miss the crazy days at Walsall campus. Well enjoy the slide show!

Project from Hell: Bitch Bag

My GOD when I subscribed for the class to make this bag in my local quilt shop I had no idea what hell I was getting myself into. Everything went wrong! First the pattern was not available, it only became available two days before the class. So Tiu and I had one night to cut all the fabric and the iron on interface. We stayed till 2:00 am cutting everything and than we found out we needed to iron all the interfacing too for the class puffffff!!!!! So we went to bed and decided to do the ironing in the morning before our 10:00 am class. We woke up at 7:00 am to start ironing all the fabric parts with the interfacing. We managed to do it all in the nick of time and hopped in a cab to the quilt shop. After an hour of waiting in the class we were told that the tutor was ill and had cancelled. So one of the shop assistants was going to give the class she had made this bag before but some time ago. You can imagine what a mess. She forgot some parts, so my front pocket is missing a lining. Than we went home with loads of homework because, of course its a hard bag to put together and the assistant could not really give a lesson from someone else. So off we went and not looking forward to all the work we had awaiting us. The next lesson I had two doctors appointments and was only in class for an hour. When I got there everyone seemed in a gloom and I could see we would have much work again to do at home. Tiu invited Linda to meet us at home and work on the bag before our next class. So we met at my house and worked like labour workers in a Chinese sweatshop. Lisa was very upset because her Singer machine was giving her problems through out the whole project (I was secretly thinking to myself "thanks god I have my bernina!" I felt very sorry for her.) and she thought the tutor didn't like her very much. So on the third lesson we worked very hard but the tutor had to go see the doctor and left 2 hours early. So finally I manged to finish the damn bag. It looks ok but there is some mistakes but for someone who just started sewing 5 months ago I think I did well. I did have help; if it wasn't for Tiu I think I would never have finished it. After so much grief and bitching I don't think I am trying to make this bitch oppps I mean bag again! But please feel free to leave me any comments and have a look at the end result. Well hope you all enjoy the slide show. Take care.

Quilt Show Houston 2007

Wow....it was truly a humbling experience. All those great quilts made me see how much I still need to learn. I got to Houston Texas on Friday with a terrible cold. My ears popped when the plane was descending. It was really painful I felt like my eyes were going to pop out of their sockets and that my brain was turning to puree hahaha. I got to the Hilton to meet up with Tiiu (Robs mom)and than go and see some of the quilt show before they closed at 19:00. These quilts are truly works of art. There was some amazing stuff that you would think it needed a special place in a museum. The convention center was huge, really, we needed to high light which sections we already walked to be sure we didn't do the same section twice. It was good that the quilt show was for three days but even so Tiiu and I did not see all the quilts and only managed to go through half of the vendors. They had more than 1000 vendor stands at the convention, seriously! The fun of it all was how many people came from all over the world for this event, I didn't know that there are so many quilters. You could see Japanese, Brazilian, Dutch, Australians, Italians...well you get the picture. Of course most of them are older but you could still spot some blue or green haired youngsters (hahaha). But even though the crowed was a little older it was so fun because quilters can be really funny when your not taking the fat quarter that they want. But you could get some cat fights in there too. This woman who was with one of these motorised wheel chairs was shoving it on peoples' feet, till one woman turned around and told her to stop being such a bitch....well the two women were really bitching at each other and than I passed by them and made like cat fight sounds...all the women around us were laughing like crazy. The woman on the wheel chair left really fast gruffing hahahaha. But the best one was when I was buying some fabric (fat quarters) in one of the stands and I commented that I had lost my mother in law yet again, this woman past behind me and said, " Gezzz, I wish I would lose my mother in law!".I was amazed by the mood in there, if you were eating something or just getting some coffee you always stopped and talked for hours with complete strangers. But its like this sisterhood that you never thought existed anymore, like a secret society. I am not kidding it really felt great to be connected with so many women from different countries and ages. The three days really flied by and before we knew it Tiiu and I were running through the quilts to try to see everything before they closed the show on Sunday. I learned loads, got great tips and bought great notions, my wallet was much lighter by the end of it. But as always good things must end and that was good too cause I dont think my wallet would manage another day! The next day we spent the day going on a tour through the underground connection between all the big building in town. My feet were killing me after so much walking all those days. But the tour was great, the guide was a retired man who new so much history of Houston and the architecture of all the buildings, it really was impressive. Than on the end of the day we went to the butterfly center in the Natural Science Museum. It was beautiful to see them all flying around you. On Tuesday we left to come back to Frederick. It was really warm in Texas so we had a shock by the cold over here in Maryland. Well that was my trip to Houston. Hope you guys like the pictures. I added also the link to the butterfly museum. Enjoy!

http://www.hmns.org/see_do/butterfly_center.asp

Happy Halloween!!!!

Wow how I had fun, its great to be here for the Halloween season! I went to Erica to trick or treat with the kids. I dressed up and all the kids of course were dressed too... I am with the cold at the moment but that did not stop me hahahah. I arrived and brought a pumpkin to carve. Emilia helped me carve it (its the first picture on the slide). It was not that hard as I imagined. With the tools that you can get at any shop it sure made it easy. It was great fun too. We went trick or treating at 6:30 pm with Luca, Leo, Emilia and Jessica. Adults: ME, Uta and Erica. Some of the houses were so elaborately decorated...the Americana's take this holiday very seriously. Jessica and Emilia were scared off there witts with some houses...refusing to go ring the door for some candy hahahah....it was great! With all the gools and goblins walking around it really was surreal. All kids had great costumes and most adults walking the kids also were dressed up. Really fun and really sweet...check out the pictures to have a look how much candy the kids managed to collect. I got some candy too of course, the kids had to pay me for the protection that I provided while they were too scared to get candy...hahah I wish life worked like that! Well I leave all of you with happy wishes for the Halloween. I am off to Houston Texas tomorrow afternoon for 6 days. I will update blog with pictures of the International quilt show, so you all can see what I have been up too in Texas. Have a good one!

Vegas Baby!!!

Wow...Vegas was awesome. Its not called sin city for nothing. Rob and I arrived in Vegas and the first thing you notice at the airport is the gambling slots. So you want to do some last minute gambling no worries the airport is your place. That was my first impression of Vegas and I had seen nothing yet! We waited till Carol and Mark's plane arrived, it had a delay. When I saw Carol I couldn't believe that it felt like I had just seen her yesterday. We hugged and screamed like two loonies and everyone was looking at us. Well, we haven't seen each other in 12 years so give us a break, we were allowed to be a "little" girly. Rob and I met Mark, Carol's Husband and we all got along great! We headed to the Rio Hotel (we had to stay there seeing we are Brazilians, it fitted us well to meet there after so many years), we checked in and went strait to the bar. Had some caipirinhas (Brazilian drink) and catched up on how the flight went for both of us. Carol and Mark didn't enjoy there flight so much because of the turbulence and the women behind them puking her guts out(with no bag...yep, on the floor). So we had some drinks and headed to the rooms. We had a good room (which needs to be refurbished...70's style going on strong in the room) but we had an amazing view. We freshened up and headed to the Strip to see all the other Hotels/Casinos. Wow, Vegas is so over the top that it overwhelms you just by looking at the streets. We gambled a little at the New York casino and went for dinner at the Brazilian Grill restaurant. Carolina was disappointed by the quality of meat but I thought it was ok. I was just happy to have some pao de quijo (cheese bread) and some feijoada. It was pricey but like everything in Vegas drinks and food are really expensive. We headed back to the hotel and had some more drinks at the bar and went to our rooms, which we found out,there was no water (it really reminded me of my beach holidays in Guaruja-Brazil when water was cut off because of high demand, the hotel really lived up to its name).

The next morning we went to have breakfast at the big buffet at the Hotel. Cant stress enough how awful it was....really bad! We ate what we could and I cant remember if we went to the strip again to check out more of Vegas or not (talking about hazy holidays). I know that around 14:00 we headed to the pool. The pool was great waterfalls, salty water pools really really nice. I would only stay at the Rio again for the pool facilities which were great. We stayed at the pool drinking mojitos and having a blast. Around five they started shutting everything down at the pool because of a wedding, Carol and I were really upset and a "little" drunk so we decided to go and talk to the guest manager to get some kind of compensation. Rob and Mark went to gamble. Carol and I got a 60 dollar compensation because of the water failure the night before and the pool inconvenience, thinking about it now we should had "bitched" a little longer to get at least a day discount on our rooms. Oh well cant change it now. We met the boys and Rob lost 300 dollars but Mark won 500. So Carol and Mark were happy, Rob in the other hand was upset and said he would not gamble anymore. Both of us had no luck gambling in Vegas. We went to freshen up and met down at the bar again. The plan was to go out and see Vegas a little more but Carol and I started talking and Rob and Mark too, that we ended staying at the bar drinking most of night. We had a burger in one of the restaurants of the Hotel (it was a good burger) and went to the bowling alley in the Hotel to bowl a bit. I won (it was the only thing I won in Vegas) and Rob stayed second. We headed back to the rooms around 4:00 am!

The next morning Carol and Mark had a bad hangover so they slept in but Rob and I went early to the pool to enjoy the weather (it was extremely hot all three days we where there, very very dry heat-hey we were in the middle of the desert!). Carol and Mark joined us later in the day. We sat at the pool a little longer and went to make reservations for one of the shows of Cirque du Soleil, KA. We freshened up and headed to Cesar's Palace to have lunch/dinner. We had a very very nice meal and some great desserts. The shops in the Hotel where all designer shops...really impressive. Carol and I were having a cigarette outside after our meal and we saw mother and daughter sitting outside waiting for there car. God, the mother was plastic fantastic trying to be the same age as her daughter and both women had all these bags from Gucci to Prada. The poor husband was an ugly little bald man and both women treated him like trash. I felt sorry for the guy. But that's Vegas baby you find all kinds of people...weirdos most of time. We went also to the Vencian it has this water channel like in Venice with the boats and all. The guys who run the boats start singing really really badly its so funny and I don't think they are singing like that on purpose! Mark and I were really taking the piss out of them. We headed back to the hotel to get ready for the show KA at MGM Casino. The show was really amazing, I really recommend to anyone going to Vegas to go and watch all the shows of the Cirque du Soleil...it was just fantastic (check out the video: http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/KALow/video.htm?v=3499F68D34F14DB38DC59BD5DD6D15C1MH

We headed to the Bellagio Hotel (the 5 star hotel were they shot Oceans eleven) and had some drinks at the bar. We checked the hotel out and really its the most beautiful hotel in the Strip. We waited to see if the water show was going to happen but we were too late for it. We than headed back to the hotel again at 4:00 am.

The next morning we packed and Carol , Mark , Rob and I said our goodbyes and promised to see each other again before Rob and I leave the USA. It was sad saying goodbye to Carol because we only had three days to catch up and that was not enough. We went to the airport and no we did not do any last minute gamble, after loosing 400 dollars Rob and I want to stay clear from any slots for at least another 10 years! We got back to Frederick and I needed a holiday from the Vegas trip. I think I slept for three days to be able to recover from all the booze and late nights but I had a blast. I would definitely go back to Vegas but I would like to stay in a resort away from the strip so Rob and I could go enjoy the beauty of the desert and the beautiful lagoons that they have there, which we didn't have a chance to see. I would definitely not go gambling again though! Enjoy the slide show!

A Day at the Park

Hi everyone,
I have two new posts this week. One for the day at the park and another for Vegas! Utah, Rob and I had a great day at the Park two weeks ago. The GreenBriar State Park is beautiful. It has a huge lake with two small beaches. We headed off on labour day but I think half of Maryland thought the same, it was crowded. We brought with us some food in the eski, like cheeses, crackers and drinks. It was a great Sunny day, like so many around here. While we were enjoying ourselves there, the park had to close its gates because of too many people, can you guys believe that! I had a blast swam with Lucas and Leo, made a big castle on the sand. Lucas took many pics for us...he officially has become my other man...hahahaha! He took some sweet pics. Well hope you guys enjoy the slide show. Just another 4 days and I will be seeing some of you. Can waite cause my heart misses all of you sooo much! xxxx Oh check out the little video of Lucas and Leo its funny:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6560603356914996472

New York...Neeeew Yoooork!

God, I love New York! Sorry guys for the delay on the pics. Been busy organising all the trips and all. Rob and I decided to go to New York for our Birthday as most of you already now. We stayed at the Londoner near to times square. It was a very fancy hotel 4 stars...we had a blast. We booked the modern romance pack which included a signature Martini from Gordon Ramsey and some canapes from him too!!! Also included in the pack was a massage for both of us for 60 minutes (talking about being pampered). We arrived and they put us in the wrong room which we didn't realise! But after we came back from lunch the guest manager called and explain everything and came up to greet us. He didn't stop apologising for the mistake hahahah 1st class joint! They moved us to this great suite with french doors dividing the bedroom from the living room. Huge room for a New York hotel!!! Beautiful bathroom with marmore everywhere!

We walked and walked everywhere that by the end of the trip my legs and my feet were killing me. Because it was my second visit and Rob's 5th visit, we went to specific locations this time. So the first day we went shopping and had a nice sushi dinner at this restaurant who seems to be the "it" place to go. We went back to the hotel around 11:45 pm and went to the hotel bar were we ordered champagne and exchanged gifts at 12:00 am ...very romantic but Rob and I were knackered and ozzzy by the time we went back to our suite! The next day we left early to have breakfast at Tiffanie's hahahah and from there we went to have a nice walk through Central Park. We had a look at the apartment of John Lennon were he was shot and from there walked to the Museum of Natural History. The Museum was amazing, specially all the Dino stuff....we really enjoyed it. We headed back to the hotel at 17:00 to have a nap and get ready to go for dinner. We went to this little place in Soho which had good reviews but I was not very impressed. We headed back to the hotel and I was so tired that I just jumped in bed and went to ZZZzzzzzzz. We woke up early and had breakfast in the hotel, on the house because of the room mix up earlier. We had our massages before we checked out. It really was all I needed because I was in pain from all the walking for two days! We checked out and went to catch our train back to Baltimore to pick up the car and head back home to Frederick. Oh, my flights are booked I am leaving the USA on the 15th of September and arriving at Schipol at 7:00 am on the 16th. I will be staying till the 14th of October! Well Enjoy the slide show and also you can check my web album, I added some more pics there and I fixed the link which apparently was not working before. There is also a little video check it out:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2401829504501544849&pr=goog-sl

American Pie!

For some reason I am fixated in becoming a crack jack in all house-proud crafts. I started to bake pies like there is no tomorrow. I was doing groceries the other day and could not stop looking at the apples..they looked great for baking. So I bought 12 of them and some fresh pie crust and went home. I looked in the Internet for some recipes but all of them seemed too complicated and boring. So I just got pots and pan out and just improvised. My first pie was nice but a little too sweet, but it over two days!!! Rob really enjoyed it, plus I gave a couple of pieces to Utah. So I went again to the supermarket and bought more apples. So here is how it went.

Ingredients:
12 apples
1 pack of yellow custard
fresh pie crust (I got the safeways one, which was ok-but a little thin)
butter
milk(1/2 a cup)
cinnamon
nutmeg
cloves
ginger
lemon
sugar(if needed)
vanilla extract
obs: as you can see I have no amounts for the spices because I think it depends on your own pallet.

Ok, how to put everything together:

1 .Peel all the apples: 2.Cut them in wedges and than in cubs:


3. In a medium to large size sauce pan add 1 cup of water, butter,1 spoon of sugar(if you like-but custard already is sweet), cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves(about 10) and lemon (about two tea spoons). Bring it to boil and than simmer for 15 minutes or so when you see that apples are almost cooked (not mushy though)!

4. Than in a small container beat very well 1 egg yolk (only if you want a rich custard) and add 1/2 a cup of milk and stir. Add the vanilla extract plus the custard powder and stir well. The apples should be boiling by know so throw the mixture in and stir carefully not too much than you will end with something too soft (its important not to over cook the apples or you will end with apple puree). The consistency will thicken than its up to you to see if you like a thick apple filling for you pie.

5. Now its time to put the crust in place. The fresh crust should be room temperature. Unroll the dough and place it in a pie pan. Be sure to add some pressure to the sides so the dough is well placed in the pan. With a fork make some holes so the pie crust wont be too soft. Than when apple filling has cooled down you add it to the pie. Unroll the 2nd dough again and place it over the top of the pie. With your fingers pull the sides towards the inner pie and use a fork to make nice edge. With a knife make some 3 cuts on top so the steam is able to escape. If you want your pie to shine just brush it with some egg yolk. Place it in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. When the edges become brown you know its done. Oven Heat 425 F. And tataaaaaa...you have delicious home made apple pie!!!!! Enjoy!

Leo's Quilt in Progress (Oh new online album)

I have started another quilt for a little guy I know who is very very sweet. I decided to make two quilts, one for Leo which you can see the progress bellow, and the other for Lucas his brother. I chose very simple patterns so I wont get lost. This time I am making it all by myself(that's why the simple pattern). So I hope it will work out! Leo passed by the other day to monitor my progress and be sure I am using the fabrics that he liked. Talking about pressure! We had sushi which he enjoyed but Lucas didn't like it at all...too sea weedy...hahhaha Well have a look at the slide show bellow. Oh by the way if you would like to check out my new photo album just click the link or the title of this post. I am changing album websites because the other one is giving me grief! Ok hope you guys like it.

"Oh, of course," said Ron, clapping a hand to his forehead. "I forgot we'll be hunting down Voldemort in a mobile library."

It has finally arrived!!! After waiting so long, its here and I feel a little sad that this will be the last Harry Potter book. At down town Frederick you would have thought it was Halloween. All the kids and even ADULTS were dressed up to go get a copy of the Harry's last adventure. The public library made a real special event of the launch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. They decorated the entire building and the staff was dressed as there favorite characters. Everyone was waiting outside anxiously for the staff to open the doors so they could get there goody bags and watch a Potter movie, while waiting till midnight to buy there fresh copies! They had the theme songs playing really loud outside the library and Rob and I could hear the music from our apartment and see all the kids dressed like Hogart's students. I of course bought a copy but I waited for the next day. I had reserved a copy and Barn's and Noble. I am reading the book at the moment but only small doses so I don't read it all in one day haha! Well enjoy the pictures. You can click on the title of this post or see the slide show bellow.

Sneak Peak of the book:

"Death's got an Invisibility Cloak?" Harry interrupted again.
"So he can sneak up on people," said Ron. "Sometimes he gets bored running at them, flapping his arms and shrieking ..." (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows)

Don Cove weekend!

When Jim and Ann told us they rented a place in Don Cove and invited us for the weekend, Rob and I were thrilled! What a beautiful peaceful place. If your looking for a busy weekend in bars and with people do not go there because this place is the opposite. Beautiful scenery and the only thing you can here is the birds. The house was over looking the bay. It had a big patio and its own dock area. We arrived and freshened up a little. We took the wine and some beers to the dock area. We stayed there the whole afternoon drinking and fishing...it was heaven. The next day we woke up early and headed to the main docks to rent a fishing boat. Ann and Jim took the boat back to the house and rob and I brought the car back. We made lunch and took off with the boat to have a ride around the bay and do some serious fishing! I caught 2 fishes and Rob also caught 2. It was great but very very hot. I forgot to bring my bikini so I had to take my shirt off and stay with my bra. The heat was almost unbearable. We went back to the house had nice cold showers and packed because Rob needed to work the next morning. We headed to the little restaurant at the docks and had a really nice dinner. We headed back home at 21:00 pm to beat the traffic but I guess everyone thought the same. We were back home at 12:00am. Life is hard over here....What a great weekend! Check out the pictures on my photo album by clicking on the title of this post or see the slide show bellow, enjoy!

4th of July in Frederick

I always wanted to be in America to experience the 4th of July first hand. This year had the chance to be here is America for it. Frederick down town was all dressed up for the event. Little and huge American flags were dancing around the wind. The weather was nice and warm but it rained a couple of times. Leaving me, Utah, Lance and the kids drenched by the time we went home. They had a boat competition at the creek beside our building on the 3rd and on the 4th Baker Park was like a festival ground. I was a little disappointed by the lack of parades but overall it was nice experience. They had live bands at the park area and a lot of entertainment for the kids. Lucas and Leo had a blast. I missed the fireworks cause I was too tiered to leave the apartment to go have a look at it in the evening but we did hear them. It kept raining buckets through the night so I also didn't want to get all drenched again! Have a look at the photo's so you can see Frederick's 4th of July experience. Click on the title of this post to go to my photo album or check the slide show bellow. Enjoy!

My First Baby Quilt is Done!

If I look at it I still can't believe that I have actually made this quilt. I had help, of course, from Sue from the quilting studio...she showed me all the steps. It looks so cute and its very fluffy because its flannel material. I think Kim and Keith are going to love it. I am really happy with the colour scheme and also with the pattern. Now I am scared to start my next quilt alone and be disappointed by the results...silly! What do you all think?

Evolution of the 'F' word

Not only did the word Feminism become a symbol (for our generation) of angry and butch women but now it also brings generations of sisters to argue! Maybe most of you are not aware but there is a war between generations at hand. This for me, defies all rules of our sisterhood. In the article 'Lipstick Feminists' (you can find link bellow) it points clearly that there is much commotion between the 3rd and 2nd generation of women around the topic of what is a feminist. Our older sisters are pist off at us for not appreciating all the work they have done and putting it lightly, for our moronic and degrading 'girlie culture'. Now sometimes, even I get a little concerned by the objectification that the media portrays of women but on the other hand I believe that the women who are being objectified are in control of there bodies. This shows to our older sisters that our generation has been empowered enough by them and that if we choose to be objectified, we are in control of our bodies portrayals. Further more, we are not trapped only in the objectification of male desire but actually we portray women with the desire to be acknowledge in all our traits (beauty, spirit, mind and body). Not only does this show to our older sister's that they have done a wonderful job in passing on the potential and freedom to be ourselves (no matter our sexual orientation, social status or colour). But also this empowers future generations of women not to fear their sexuality or their femininity but to embrace this famine power as part of who we are as women without prejudice of dishonoring ourselves.

Now, there will always be women or men who still don't get it and will be objectified with no power over there image (Paris Hilton for one!). But that is life, some people get it, some don't; you can’t expect the whole world to be enlightened. Our older sisters might be generalising all women because of few rotten apples. Which saddens me immensely!

There is no doubt that our generation is a little spoiled and most of us have no idea what our older sister's had to go through to give us such freedoms. We do take it for granted but also our older sisters are sometimes hard on us. They forget that we live in a very different world and that we might know more of what women are all about today than they do. Not only that, but also we are more in contact with women issues of our generation than they will ever be.

In conclusion to all of this and the article, no matter if you are a feminist or girl power or geek; at the end of the road we are all women. Women need other women to share there feelings and experiences no matter what generation you are. Every woman has there own agenda of issues that they think are priority and that is what feminism is all about. I do agree with Jennifer Baumgardner (she was interviewed in the article) that feminism is something individual to each woman. So instead of creating this communication gap and these walls between each other, why not try to find a common ground. Because at the end, we are all sisters and we all share the same road.

Article: Lipstick Feministas. Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards create a manifesto for Third Wave feminism by Tamara Straus.
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/11.29.00/feminism-0048.html

Want to find more about 2nd and 3rd generation of the F word check the link bellow: http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/920/context/cover

Bernina, Bernina, Bernina!!!!

Great news... I bought my very first sewing machine 2 weeks ago!! I'm so excited about all the good stuff that I can make now. I have to leave the machine at the sewing shop though because I don't have much space in our new apartment in the US. All the girls at the shop keep asking me how I can do that..seeing its a new machine and its the only one I have...I guess I will have to manage just for a while. Its a very fancy Bernina 440 QE (quilter edition). It really feels like having a Rolls Royce hihihi...

I really enjoyed working on my first quilt with it. Its a great machine it has so many features that I got lost at the bernina class. I was amazed of what I can do with it. Its costly but its a machine for life.

My baby quilt is almost done. I am finishing the binding at the moment by hand. I am doing this quilt for a good friend of mine who is having her first baby. I think I will have a hard time parting with it, cause it looks soooooo cute. I will upload some pictures when its finished. Cheers