on again off again

so, i've been pretty quite. nothing personal but just haven't had much to say, or rather not much i felt like sharing with the rest of you...

guess i still believe that old saying "if you don't have anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut".

it's just been winter here the past few months and i've been a grump. as a general rule, i'm a summer person. being from the tropics and all has made me a less than cheerful bearer of winters. cold weather and not alot of sun make me grouchy. sure there have been plenty of good things that have happened this winter, but by the time i get around to thinking about blogging them, i'm grumpy again.

alas, the sun is coming out! spring is surely creeping up on us and i'll be out to play again soon.

boy was I ever tired....

no, not really, I'm well. Just fell off the NaBloPoMo wagon with a great big thud.

It all started out fine. I had content, good intentions, momentum, and then life just got in the way. Sorry to let you down. Oh who am I kidding, I've only let myself down. Think I'll go have more tequila now...

tired

missed last night's post as we were out until almost 3 am! ON A SCHOOL NIGHT! I am too old for this. we went to see Yo La Tengo in Utrecht with one of A's colleagues and his girlfriend. it was a nice evening, tho I'm not sure what I thought of the band. They were good, but there was absolutely no energy from the stage. Not sure if that makes sense but usually live shows are nice because the band has a stage presence that livens things up. This was different. They were good, but just performed in a very insular manner. I guess I would too if I was in a successful act that with 20 years of experience. Enjoyable but not memorable.

also LOUD. so loud that my ears hurt. we ended up leaving before the encore (our ears were tired), having a few too many beers, missing the train and getting home just before 3 am. ON A SCHOOL NIGHT.

now it's friday and i'm heading to bed while i can still move.

tomorrow is knitting day in Rotterdam. wish me luck.

hint

so, my mom left some books behind when she left last weekend, maybe she was trying to tell me something...

body on tap

i never knew that Patron tequila was started by the co-founder of Paul Mitchell Systems. yes the smarmy hair product magnate now makes the "best tequila in the world"... really. go figure!

maybe i should experiment a little. nah, too hard to procure here. we have to beg visitors to bring us duty free rations when they visit. really, it's all you need to do for a free place to stay in Amsterdam.

nothing

good comes to mind when I consider today's blog topic. i'm in a winter induced funk, working too much, with too little to do and no real motivation.

my mother always told me if you don't have anything nice to say, then keep your mouth shut. i'm following her advice, for a change...

gezellig

am just back from my first meeting of the Amsterdam Stitch 'n Bitch group. They meet once a week at a local cafe for, stitching & bitching. There was quite a bit of the first going on, though not much of the latter as I could tell. It was heel gezellig (in Dutch, very cozy - they love that word cozy.)

I was a bit worried that unlike my last knitting group, these people would all be very into knitting, and less into the social aspect that I find so important. (Who wants to knit in a vacuum, not me!). But I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone was super nice, and I had a good time comparing notes with other ex-pats and got some much needed advice on my current project (Thanks Erica!).

There was a reporter there from a local paper doing a story on the group and a photographer came out to photograph us. Earlier in the evening, while cooking dinner, I managed to shred some of my knuckles along with the cheese, so there I was with my needles in hand and two big old band aids on two fingers. I really hope they don't print those, I'd hate to give people the impression that knitting is dangerous.

recovering

put my mom on the plane today. i find it hard to believe that 5 days have flown by so quickly. it was nice to see her but also physically and emotionally exhausting. it's really difficult to see your parents getting old and realizing that soon they will need you to take care of them, not the other way around. it makes me sad and tired just thinking about the years ahead and wondering what it will be like.

i'm heading for bed now, hopefully will be back to full blogging mode tomorrow.

Oddly enough

cement trucks here are more traingularly spiral than really spiral...


Off to Delft today with my mom! I'll be back to my regular blogging soon. I know you're all on the edge of your seats.