Halászbástya

John here again. Since Heidi is too busy knitting to post images from our most recent trip, I'm taking over. So the flood of images continues. We flew into Budapest, more accurately Pest, late on Saturday night. We had a wonderful meal that night, veal paprika for me and deep fried camembert for Heidi. The sightseeing got goinng the next day with a visit to the Castle Hill in Buda. First stop the Halászbástya, or Fisherman's Bastion, a sightseeing platform built at the turn of the century. It offers great views of Buda, the Danube and Pest.

Easter Markets

Each year, we go to Christmas markets. We have gone to a different one each year, but this trip had a first: an Easter market. :) We didn't know that Vienna had an Easter market but it was a pleasant surprise. As we wandered around the one at Schonbrunn Palace and looked at the Easter Market, we imagined what the palace courtyard would like like for the Christmas markets. Wandering around city centre, we also stumbled upon small markets.

Like other markets, there was Gluwein. However, there was also warm sangria, champagne, and beir. Lots of beir. Much to John's dismay, there was not sausage. There were chocolate covered strawberries, though! As for items for sale, there were egg ornaments, Easter related trinkets, and one market even had bunnies! All in all, they were good fun and interesting.

B.F., A.F.

When traveling, I seem to pay more attention to things people say, especially when we are in a non-English speaking country and others are speaking English. People may think the same of us, but I find the things people say very entertaining. On this trip, we saw a lot of younger kids, well by younger, I mean they could be college age. As I get older, it gets harder to guess the age of people.

Anyway, we heard a lot of college students, presumably on spring break. While in Budapest, we happened to over hear a group talking. One of the "kids" asked the other, "What did people do before Facebook?" and then one of the girls asked, "Like, how did you know if a boy liked you?" I smiled at this and thought about how different dating is for the younger generation. They text back and forth before you go on a "real" date. They network on Facebook and Bebo. Maybe people in "my generation" do this as well today but I am so glad that I don't have to figure out the new rules of dating!

The Return of the King

Since Heidi has been lax in her blog posting, I feel the need to take over again. I mean, we got back from our trip to Budapest and Vienna at about 11pm last night and she hasn't made a single post yet. How irresponsible is that?

Anyway, in honor of Easter, I thought we could do a bit of a retrospective on a few of the Pietàs we have seen on our travels. The Kokoschka is one we saw on our most recent trip to Vienna. We couldn't photograph it since it was in a museum but I found an image online.

Why do you feel the right to ask?

When people get engaged, it seems to open up a whole new line of questioning/conversation. People start asking questions that they wouldn't ask otherwise. They also make comments that they wouldn't otherwise make. Where are you going to live after the wedding? I may be pregnant by this time next year (they say this, I don't). When I disagree, I have actually been told that I am running out of time! That is not a polite thing to say, regardless of it's accuracy.

Today I was talking to a mate of mine. She said that she got the same questions when she got engaged. She also said that the questions continued until a few months ago, which was fortunate since she is pregnant and didn't want to have to dodge answers about "when are you starting a family?" Friends of mine mentioned that people they know have finally stopped asking when they are starting a family, and they have been married 9 years!!! I hope I don't get questions for that long...

But seriously, why do people who barely know you feel like they can suddenly start asking questions about every detail of your future life plans. Maybe we don't have plans. Maybe, just maybe, we just want to get married. Marriage does not have to equal buying a house. It doesn't have to mean moving of any type. It doesn't have to mean children or a family. Yes, these things sometimes happen but having a piece of jewelry or a legal document saying you "belong" to someone else does not somehow create a magic pathway to "adult" things.

Planning and more planning

People keep asking me how the wedding planning is going. I didn't really think about it for most of Jan or Feb this year. It was nice to not think about the wedding. Now, it seems like there is some work to do again. However, I think that we have most of it done! I am happy to think that. I am probably missing a quite a few things but the online checklists all say that the planning is on track.

Things done so far:

• Wedding dress is ordered and has arrived! (I can't see it though since it is in a different country!)
• Bridesmaid dresses are ordered (thanks to my sister on that one)
• We have our reception site and have done our tasting. Therefore, our menu is set!
• We've decided on our cake
• We have the church booked and the pastor to do the ceremony
• We have the friend who is going to do a solo during the ceremony lined up
• We have a person for the ceremony music
• We have ideas on invitations
• We have ideas on the rehearsal dinner location
• I have started trying to tone my arms and am doing cardio 1-2 times a week and getting back into shape (as is John)
• We have the music for the reception sorted. We do need to go over dinner music a bit.
• We have a color scheme and "theme" and have picked linens for the reception
• We've asked the people reading during the ceremony
• We've met with the florist and gotten a quote (but I need to change is slightly)
• I'm half way done with my shawl for the wedding (and can then start on the bridesmaids' shawls)
• Booked photographer
  
• And very important, we've booked our honeymoon flights and reserved the camper van for our honeymoon in New Zealand!! 25 days away! We are VERY excited about that!

Things that are left to do:

• Choose song for the soloist
• Choose processional/recessional music
• Choose first dance
• Actually order invitations
• Knit shawls for bridesmaids
• Buy jewelry for bridesmaids
• Choose groomsmen presents
• Order veil and find other bridal accessories
• Investigate salon to do hair/makeup on the day
• Figure out wedding rings
• Order reception table decorations
  

There are probably other things but I can't think of them off the top of my head...

First Irish Wedding

This weekend, John and I went to our first Irish wedding. Well, actually we went to the afters. Unlike at home, weddings in Ireland are broken into parts. Some people are invited to the ceremony and dinner. More people are then invited to the afters, that is the dancing after the meal. The festivities officially ended at 12:30 but my understanding is that many people were going to go to the club in the hotel and that the festivities usually don't end until well into the night or morning!

Anyway, we went to the afters and got there about 9:00 PM. The DJ was playing and a few people were dancing. Mostly people were talking. About 10:00 PM there was a show by Irish dancers that lasted about 30 minutes. After they danced a few songs, they then called the bridal party out onto the dance floor and the Irish dancers then danced with the bridal party as well. It looked like a lot of fun! Towards the end of the evening, more food was offered to guests. It was the standard pub/party type food: chips, chicken wings, chicken goujons, and calamari (at least that's what we think it was). All in all, it was a good night.

Knit Night

On Wednesdays and Thursdays, I go to knitting groups. The Wednesday group is really just three of us sitting in a pub having a chat and knitting. It is quite fun and has helped me feel like I belong somewhere!

Last Thursday, I needed to make a baby hat for a mate's baby. I knew that I could get a baby hat done in one evening so I bought the yarn that night (great thing about having knit nights in a yarn shop), wound it, and started knitting. The ladies commented on how quickly the hat was knitting up and helped me problem solve when I made a mistake with the hat. Yvonne then crocheted a chain for me to use instead of having to knit one or try to find some ribbon to use. On the way home, I continued to knit on the train and then finished up the hat when I got home.

Yesterday, I was out with Aileen and Laura and working on a friend's hat and my dad's socks. At one point, Aileen reached over for Laura's knitting and just started working on it! Aileen had run out of knitting and Laura was eating so she just worked on it. I then jokingly asked if Aileen wanted to do the heel of my dad's sock since it appeared to not be working out and she did! I went to the bathroom and she ripped out the mistakes and within what felt like 5 minutes, she had the heel turned and now I just need to pick up the stitches and work on the foot!

And the Bloggie goes to...

Last night, I went to the Irish Blog Awards with a few friends. I wasn't planning on going but Yvonne offered to give me her husband's ticket and come with her. The awards only started about 30 minutes later than advertised. DJ Rick O'Shea hosted the awards and a video skit with George W Bush introduced each award. They were quite funny! Rick also named the awards the Bloggies. I quite like it and hope that name will stick.

There were some journalists there (I think), or just bloggers taking serious notes. I just enjoyed the time out with friends and even got to meet a few new people. I was disappointed that Knitting Neels didn't win the best craft category but was happy that The Voyage won for best specialist blog. Oh, there was also a raffle and Yvonne won a DVD player!

On the walk home Aileen and I saw a hen night. :)

Knitting update

I haven't posted much knitting lately even though I have been doing a lot of it. Right now, I have a lot projects on my sticks. I am working on a shawl/wrap for the wedding, a pair of socks for my dad, a blanket for a baby, and a hat for a friend. I also took a class at This is Knit to learn a new way of knitting sweaters and have a "pattern" to make myself a sweater but it has to wait!

So far this year, I have made:

• one baby blanket
• three baby hats
• one adult hat
• one children's hat
• finished one of my dad's socks (and am about 1/3 way done with the second)
• a head warmer thing for myself

Wow, that's a lot of knitting and probably explains why the wedding project is only 1/3 of the way done!

Planning, planning, planning

A lot of people that I know who got married talk about how stressful wedding planning was and how they're glad that they never have to do it again. So far, I think we have most things planned and I'm still enjoying it. But then, I enjoy planning and hosting events. I like thinking about decor and what coordinates with what. I liked deciding what the menu will be (and trying the food). I have enjoyed choosing a color palette. I enjoyed meeting the pastor and interviewing a couple photographers. I even enjoyed meeting with the florist that we are using. The only thing that has been stressful so far is the bridesmaids' dresses and that was because I was trying to convince them to choose their own dress when they wanted to be told what to wear. I ended up compromising and saying, "choose from these dresses." It seems to have worked well and they have dresses that they say they are comfortable in which was what I wanted.

Anyway, today we completed a major step in wedding planning: we booked our flights for our honeymoon!!!!! We are going to New Zealand for almost four weeks! I am soooooo excited about this since it is somewhere that John and I have wanted to go and really this is probably the only time in our lives that we will go that far away. The journey there (and back) are about 24 hours each! On our way there, we will arrive two days after we started. On the way back, we arrive about an hour after our departure time in New Zealand.

Doh!

The other day, I decided to make pasta and sauce for dinner. I was happily cooking the sauce and added goat's cheese as an experiment (it was tasty). I then decided that I needed to check the pasta shells to see if they were done since the sauce was ready. I used the cooking spoon to pick up a couple noodles. I carefully got the water out of the first noodle, the one I noticed on the spoon. I then tipped the spoon towards my mouth, only to feel boiling water on my lip! I didn't notice the other noodle and burned my lip.

Since my lip hurt A LOT, I made John finish dinner and find something in the freezer that we could use to ice it. All we found were frozen cranberries. I managed to cool my lip a bit but it still hurt. We then ate dinner and I convinced John to go to the store and get ice pops for me to use to ice my lip. They seemed to help and were tasty. :)

The next day, I woke up and my lip felt really tight. I looked in the mirror and there was a blister. I spent the rest of the day at work putting chap stick on my lip to make it better. Unfortunately, I also burned the inside of my lip and it hurt to talk the day after but it is all much better now.

You make my day!

Last week (I think), Aileen gave me a "you make my day award" along with some other people. She had a pretty image to go with it, which I don't seem to be able to copy. You are supposed to nominate someone else to keep the award going.

Yvonne, makes my day because she is good fun to knit with on Thursdays and is a good friend. She also has a cat and facilitates my yarn stash addiction. :) She has mentioned that I am her main enabler, she is also good at enabling. :)

Sharon also makes my day because she brings a unique perspective to being a parent of a child with autism. Through her writing, it is obvious that she loves her son dearly and really has a balanced approach to educating him. She seems to look for research based techniques and loves her son for who is he is. She isn't searching for a cure. That is refreshing to me. So, thanks Sharon!

Neptune Cave

OK, I am WAY far behind on my blogging. John has informed me that my knitting is interfering with my blogging. I am just trying to get a project done. :) Anyway, while we were away in Alghero way back in Jan, we found a cave that we could go explore. The Neptune Cave is 2500 meters but the tours only cover a portion of this. The caves are at sea level and a constant temperature (about 18 C, 68 F) throughout the year and have variable humidity. It was quite amusing to us that the Italians were wearing winter coats in the cave. We did not wear coats as we were both warm. Luckily for us, the guide spoke for English and Italian so we were able to learn a bit about the caves (which I promptly forgot).

Sunsets

I lOVE sunsets. The colors, the changes in the sky and light, it is all just so beautiful to me. I like sunrises as well but I'm not exactly a morning person so I don't see many of them. Living on the east side of water/an island, we don't get to see many amazing sunsets.

While visiting Alghero, we got to see two amazing sunsets on the coast. Sunsets on the water the best. I just love to see the reflection of the light in the water...