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Cones, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
We checked out of our room this morning, walked the four blocks to the L train station, bought a couple of passes at the nearby currency exchange, climbed the steps up to the platform, jumped on our train when it showed a few minutes later, road out to the second to the last stop on the Orange line, got off the train and walked about six minutes to the Carlton Inn Midway, asked for and received an early check in, arranged for our airport shuttle at seven in the morning, dropped our bags in our room, walked to the corner to have some Greek food at a hotel recommended place (which was great), and then came back to the room so Kev could do laundry and we both could just chill for the rest of the day. We’re tired. So busy, in a great way, the last couple of days, and before that it was drive drive drive. Chillaxing today is awesome!
About the restaurant we went to for lunch… the Greek place. I did something I’ve wanted to for a long long time… when the time was right… and it so was today. This restaurant… The New Pindos was just down the street from our hotel and recommended by the staff as a place that’s “family owned and been there for 30 years”. It was great, but then I love places like that. It had this old vibe, but it was clean. The waitresses all looked like they’d worked there all of those 30 years. Ours was awesome… new her stuff, was funny, nice, so very attentive, all the good things you want in a waitress. I liked her. We both did. So when it came time to leave, Kev picked up the bill and I laid a $20 on the table as the tip. We walked up to the counter so Kev could pay and our waitress, who was such a cutie pie older lady, came up to me and quietly said… I think you made a mistake. I smiled and said no, I didn’t. She then said, in a bewildered voice, I’ve never gotten a $20 tip before… are you sure? I said, yes I was absolutely sure and told her to have a great day. She just smiled and said again… I’ve never gotten a $20 tip before. It was awesome, that look on her face. Money is money, not the end all and be all of happiness, but man… the look on her face. She was shocked, and happy. That’s a little extra happiness out there in the world. Maybe she’ll pay it forward somehow, but even if she doesn’t, she’ll be sweeter than she already was, and I bet she’ll be smiling all day. Which, really, if you think about it, is paying it forward. Smiles pay all kinds of joy forward.
We’ve had a great trip… eventful at times, but great. I think Kev has had a great first Chicago experience. I think he loved it. The architecture alone had his head on a swivel the whole time we were downtown. It was sweet. Great views, fantastic things to do and see, yummy food, great vibe. Chicago is, I will say once again with only a little redundancy, my kinda town. LOVE it. Chi-Town, I will be back… and I think, if I’m not mistaken, Kev may just be back as well.
One more post tomorrow as we travel back to the Northwest. Flight is early… 8:40, but it’s a straight shot. Then… back to my Oregon home, my honey (who I’m missing very very much), and my pups, who I’m also missing very much. My little family… here I come!
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These are photos I used on my blog between 2005 and 2007. I blogged with Blogger for that time… until I switched to WordPress, where I’ve stayed. I was just perusing these and enjoying them. Thought I’d share. Some of these were before I had the Canon Rebel even. We were using point and shoot little digital cameras then. Plus there are photos of Weston when we first got him… what a cutie. Enjoy….
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| Tam’s Think Tank |
Had a great time at Lisa’s house today (thanks for hosting!) gathering with some of our peeps and watching Superbowl 45. As always Sandy provided a little game of hide and seek. Gotta love this girl.
Since I’ve been super remiss about posting here on the blog about our adventures in England, I thought I’d do a bit o’ recap of the highlights from the last couple of weeks….
Arrived, fussed over the little boy, dealt with the whole shot thing by ending up going to Manchester by train to meet with Dr. Yin and get the first shot (Karen and I then made our way from the clinic by taxi back to the train station in Stockport and then by train from Stockport to Manchester where we did some shopping and finally from Manchester back to Lancaster), many trips walking into town for shopping, have had an occasional pasty, a nice visit with Ashley who came in on the train from Edinburgh, more playing with and fussing over the boy, a drive to the Trafford Center mall near Manchester for more Christmas shopping, more walks into town (we do it at least once daily), more fussing over the boy, wrapped purchased Christmas presents, petting Wicket and Ziggy, and still more fussing over the boy. He’s the cutest every, I’m just saying…
That’s pretty much been it. I’ve taken some photos, though not tons. Mostly of the boy. We are gearing up for a lot of picture taking on Christmas eve and Christmas day. Watch for those.
We’ve been here two weeks tomorrow. The time has flown by really. There’s tons of darkness here. It doesn’t get really light out, like fully light, until about 10:00 in the morning and conversely it starts getting dark about 3:30 or even a tad sooner. The sunrises and sunsets seem to take a long long time. I think we only get about 6 hours of good daylight every day. Strange. At least we’ve had a lot of blue sky so far when it is light. We like that. We were expecting way more gray skies and rain. Lucky.
The Gallery, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
I donated three photographs to the auction hoping to get them some cash. They ended up going for about $170 total. Not bad. Please ignore the creepy reflection of the woman in picture one, looking from left to right. I don’t know her.
Riles, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Riley looks hilarious in this one. I took it yesterday, or maybe the day before, when I was running around the house snapping photos of the dogs. She gets all wiggly when you try to pet her. She’s so excited she just can’t stay still. It’s cute. Makes it hard to pet her, but you have to try… I mean come on, look at that face.
Drying The Brushes, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
The theme for this week’s Photo Hunt is hands. I looked through the ol’ archives and found this one, taken in December, 2008, with my iPhone camera. We were working on our most recent rental project and this is the clean the paint out of the brush technique that seemed to work best. I used a funky camera setting with the phone to get this shot. I kind of like it.
If you’d like to play along and join the hunt CLICK HERE for details.
Amani Shot, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Well folks, this is the winner. This is the shot, taken by me, and picked by a local child abuse assessment center for the cover of their mock ball invitation. A great concept if you ask me… the whole mock ball thing. Send invites, don’t have a ball, all monies go toward the center. No dressing up, no having to rent a tux, or buy a dress. Just donate to a great cause. If you’d like more info or to know how to volunteer for this great center or donate CLICK HERE .
Hawthorne, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
This week’s hunt is all about bridges. I have taken, recently, to walking along the Eastbank Esplanade, downtown Portland, Oregon. It’s a great place to take the dogs for a walk. One of Portland’s nicknames is bridgetown. 10 bridges cross the Willamette and Columbia Rivers within city limits. Pretty impressive. The Hawthorne, pictured here, is one of my favorites.
I haven’t been in the hunt for awhile now. Too busy with life stuff I guess to be at the computer much more than to just load photos onto flickr, blog a word or two, and then get up to do other things. In the interim I’ve been through the holidays, had three feet of snow at the house, had no power during those times on three separate occasions… the last time it took the power guys 5 days to fix it and that was because they couldn’t get up the road until the snow plows made it out here. I live in the woods, it took them awhile, but actually it was faster than I thought it might be. I’ve also finished work on the rental project we were up to. It’s our second. It was a bear. Much more work than expected. Means that since October I’ve basically had two jobs. My day job, and then the night and weekend job of painting and mudding and taping and hammering and the like. It’s over now. Woo Hoo! And it’s rented. Now, thanks goodness, it’s sort of life returning to normal… LOL Whatever that is.
If you’d like to join in all the fun by posting the weekly photo for the hunt, CLICK HERE for all the details.
Mr. Winter’s Remains, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
We must say a fond farewell to Mr. Winter, the snowman that Martin built while the kids were visiting over the holidays. These few items are all that remain of poor Mr. Winter, who went through so much during his short tenure. Let’s have a moment of silence for him. …. thanks. So long big guy…
The Ring, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
So much has happened in the last couple of weeks I don’t think I posted a picture of Mary’s engagement ring. So, without further ado… introducing… Mary’s engagement ring. They did well picking it out. It’s beautiful.
It’s a Boy, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Last night we hosted a baby shower for Josh and Lindsay, a guy I work with and his wife, who are expecting their first child. It’s a boy… as you can probably guess. We had a great time with everyone, I hope they did! Nothing better than good food, good company, and presents.
Newport Bayfront, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Today’s theme for the hunt is wooden. I was looking through some of my photos and came across this one taken in October 2007 of the bay front in Newport, Oregon. Great wooden benches, railings, and boardwalk there, not to mention the big wooden boat in the background and the huge mural painted on the side of the wooden fish processing plant (or whatever you call it).
If you want to join in the hunt, go to tnchick to get all the info, and start snapping those shots!
Life Jackets, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.I’m posting a tad early for the photo hunt. The theme for the week… important. I looked through the ol’ archives and came up with this one I took February 2007 on a cruise ship. Nothing seems more important when you’re on a big big boat than knowing where the life rafts and the life vests can be found. Luckily we didn’t have to use them, but it was important to me to know where they were!
If you want to join the fun, check out the photo hunt site and play along.
As some of you know I have a couple of other websites out there. One is a photo blog, image – ination, where I’m posting a picture a day for a year. Another is my flickr photos page. The moral of the story here, I like to take pictures. Anyway… a couple of days ago I submitted a couple of pictures to the Sierra Club’s Daily Ray of Hope photo pool in the flickr community. It’s the pool they select their photos from for their daily email newsletter, The Daily Ray of Hope. To make a long story longer… I got the email included here from them a couple of days ago… to which I say… WOO HOO! How exciting!! I’m going to be published. Yes! This is not a huge thing, in the grand scheme of things, but for me, it is. It’s a first for me and it feels great.
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Image for Daily Ray of Hope |
| Hi Tokenhippygirl, We would like to use your image for the Sierra Club’s Daily Ray of Hope. www.flickr.com/photos/tokenhippygirl/2157029083/in/pool-dailyrayofhope/ Could you tell us where the image was taken, and how would you like to be cited? In order to use your photo in the Daily Ray of Hope, we need the license to be Non-Commercial. To change the licensing, go to the page that image is on, and under Additional Information, click Edit. Then, on the next page choose Attribution – Non Commercial License and click Save. That should do it. Let me know if you have any problems! Thanks! –You can sign up for the Daily Ray of Hope here: |
Sweet Onion and Fontina Chicken
Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl
Today’s photo hunt theme: delicious.
This is sweet onion and fontina chicken. We’ve been experimenting with cooking new recipes we find. This one was a big success. Very delicious indeed.
Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl
Christmas day was pretty grand all in all. A lovely relaxed morning opening our gifts to and from each other, a really nice phone call with Mary and Martin, the advent of snow falling (something that hasn’t happened here for a long long time), and then a great dinner at Mom and Don’s complete with great company provided by mom, Don, Phil, Steph, Maggie, Molly, Shelley, Nate, and Luke. It was a very good day.
This picture, if you’re wondering, is one of Phillip’s presents from Don. They are fire starters. A little lint, a little wax, and some egg carton and I guess you’re good to go. Who knew?
Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl
I’ve been playing around with the Aperture program and, obviously, haven’t quite figured it all out. I will, but even still… I liked how this came out. Strange, yet cool somehow. Or maybe that’s just the color of it that makes it seem cool. Hmmmm…
