Hello from Budapest

So here we are in Europe. Arrived on Friday and today is already Sunday night. Time is flying as usual. Spent some time with my parents at our house in Lower Austria when we first arrived and also met up with my friend Anneliese and visited a few Christmas markets (had some plum and pineapple punch). Then spent one night in Vienna hanging out at Crossfield's (a really fun Australian pub ... yes I know irony, an Australian pub in Austria *g*).

This morning we took the train to Budapest (about 3 hours) and spent the afternoon sighseeing. It was fun walking across the Chain Bridge (see picture) and exploring the Castle District. Really great views from up there!! The weather cooperated for the most part too. Tomorrow it's going to be a lot more cloudy and Tuesday it will pretty much rain all day, But I guess that will be a museum day and then at night we are heading back to Vienna anyway, And Wednesday my friend Joanne and her boyfriend from England already arrive. So yes,, we are keeping busy, :)

Short mail update for today. No letters have gone out since the last update. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Alex/Germany, Jessica/DE,Sarah/Canada and Tiffany/OK.

Posted by Hanna at 04:26 PM in Austria , Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

It's the season ...

It's definitely starting to feel a little christmassy even though I am not quite in the holiday spirit yet.Too much to do at work and errands at home etc. in preparation for our trip. But I have no doubt that the Christmas spirit will come as soon as we get to Austria and start going to the different Christmas markets. :)

In preparation for Christmas I am doing ok. I have all my Christmas cards done. The international ones went out yesterday and the US/Canada ones today. Also mailed the packages today so all set in the mail department. The US post office definitely made a profit on me again this year, between the 80'ish cards and 8 packages I mailed.

Most of my Christmas deco around the house went up on Sunday as well. Don't have the tree up yet but we will see if we can get that done before we leave. If not we will have to do it as soon as we get back. I will make sure to post pictures when it's all done so you can see. I am glad all the rest of my deco (incl. my Dickens Christmas village) is up though. It's definitely beginning to feel a bit like Christmas now. :) 

Short mail update for today. Letters went out yesterday to: Charles/TN, Emilia/Finland and Celia/MA. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Sarah/Canada and Tiffany/OK.

Posted by Hanna at 04:40 PM in Austria , Holidays, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Time to head back to CT

Hello again really quickly. Can't believe it's Saturday already and time for us to head back to CT. Before we leave we are going to Eggspectation, a really yummy place we discovered a while back, for breakfast.

Had a nice time here in Montreal even though the weather was just miserable all day yesterday. Had lunch at a fun place called Dundee's, then went to the Museum of Archeology and History which was really neat. They had a special exhibit on pirates and also lots of neat exhibits underground showing you the history of Montreal. For dinner we went to a steak restaurant called The Keg which was very yummy.

Today we are heading to Eggspectations for breakfast, then going to the Eaton Center for a little bit and then it's already time to head back to CT. But at least it's only Saturday and we still have tomorrow of as well. Lots to do tomorrow (errands and such) but at least no work till Monday. :)

Posted by Hanna at 11:06 AM in Food and Drink, Travel | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone in the US. :) I hope you all had a really nice day with loads of food surrounded by people you truly care about.

We went to Canada today for the Thanksgiving weekend. I am really happy to be off from work for 4 days. Seems like going to Canada for Thanksgiving is starting to be a little tradition of ours. This is the 3rd year in a row now. :) Got up around 7am this morning. had breakfast at our local diner and then started our drive. The border crossing wasn't too bad and we made it to Montreal by 3pm.

The weather is kind of crappy. Cloudy/misty and tomorrow it's supposed to rain pretty much all day. But it's ok. We have been to Montreal plenty of times so it's not really a sightseeing trip. Just going to hang out and have fun, Will head out to dinner at Les 3 Brasseurs in a little bit. Really looking forward to that, a fun and yummy place. :)

Short mail update for today. Wrote letters on the way up to: Charles/TN, Celia/MA and Emilia/Finland. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Sarah/Canada and Tiffany/OK.

Posted by Hanna at 03:54 PM in Food and Drink, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Busy holiday season

The holidays are always busy at work and this year is of course not any different. There is so much to do, figuring out schedules, delivery days, making sure all the customers know what's going on and finding solutions for customers who can't follow our schedule etc etc. To make a long story short - it's a mess. :)

I also have to start preparing everything for Christmas at work since I won't be there for 10 days in December and by the time we get back it will be too late.

The good news is that I finished ALL of my Christmas cards today. Yay. :) I will mail them the Monday after Thanksgiving. I now need to work on sorting out all the gifts that need to be mailed before we leave for Austria and the other gifts which need to be brought to Austria. I will try and do that real soon. My goal is to stay as organized as possible.

Looking forward to Austria. It's less than two weeks now. We will also spend two days in Budapest which will be a lot of fun. I have been to Hungary but never to Budapest. It's always fun to explore a new city. And it will be nice to be away from work for 10 days of course.

Mail update: No letters have gone out. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Emilia/Finland, Tiffany/OK, and Sarah/Canada.  

Posted by Hanna at 05:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Christmas prep

Since I am doing everything early this year I also started my Christmas cards early. Today's project was completing all my European Christmas cards (35) and as you can see in the picture my cat Oliver was a big help. :) He ended up with glitter all over his fur but he didn't seem to mind too much.

I still need to write my US cards (30) and a few Canadian, Australian and other overseas ones but at least the European ones are done. I won't mail them until after Thanksgiving but the good part is that all I need to do then is put a stamp on them. Ordered some stamps today too.

Some of the stuff I ordered online last weekend already arrived. Some of it is still waiting to be shipped. Hopefully by the time we leave everything will have arrived so I can take the gifts to Austria or the ones which need to be shipped elsewhere can be shipped before we leave. Let's hope it all works out.

Work is still busy and will only get busier as Thanksgiving gets closer. Our phone system at work went down on Saturday too so we will have to figure out a way to fix it. It's very old so we might have to order parts from somewhere else which will delay things. I guess we will see what tomorrow brings. We can make outgoing calls but incoming isn't working properly at all. What a pain.

Mail update: Letters went are going out tomorrow to: David/IN and Alex/Germany. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Emilia/Finland, Tiffany/OK, and Sarah/Canada.  

Posted by Hanna at 09:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Early Christmas Shopping

Spent the day Christmas shopping online. I know, I know it's early but I need to really get a head start this year because we will be flying to Austria in early December and I will want to bring some gifts with me. Plus others need to be mailed out so I need to have them ready to be mailed before we leave.

We just booked our flight. Will be gone Dec. 3 through Dec. 14. Christmas markets here we come. :) I am definitely looking forward to this trip. It's always nice to be in Austria around Christmas time. Just a completely different feel than here in the US. Don't get me wrong. I do love Christmas time here in the US too. It's just completely different.

Not too much else new really. Lots and lots to do at work. Thanksgiving is coming up and then Christmas and I won't have much time to prep for Christmas since we will be gone for a good amount of time in Dec. So I really need to get moving on figuring all this out, school schedules, delivery days, who needs what and when and all that good stuff.

Mail update: Letters went are going out tomorrow to: Charles/TN, Celia/MA and Carmen/Malta. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Alex/Germany, Emilia/Finland, Tiffany/OK, Sarah/Canada and David/IN.  

Posted by Hanna at 06:58 PM in Austria , Travel, Work Stories | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween

Wishing everyone a fun Halloween. Happy Haunting. :) We were invited to a party by some friends but won't be able to make it now after all since Mike caught the flu and has been in bed since Thursday. Too bad because it sounded like a fun party. But can you do? So I guess we will just take it easy this weekend. Maybe I can catch up on some things around the house while Mike recovers.

It was great to have my parents here this past week. Managed to take a few days off as well which was nice. We did some sightseeing around New York City (the Botanical Gardens, Transit Museum, Natural History Museum, Central Park) and went out to Long Island to the North Fork wine-tasting. My parents also went to the South Fork of Long Island one day and to Mystic another day. My birthday was a lot of fun as well. My parents cooked a traditional Austrian soup (beef broth with sliced crepes ... I know it sounds weird but it's delicious) for me from scratch and my mom even brought a homemade Sachertorte (traditional Austrian chocolate cake) from Austria for me. At night we went to TK's for free birthday wings and drinks. The week flew by so fast but definitely lots of fun.

Lots of lovely birthday gifts as well. Tea, gingerbread, chocolates, a picture frame, a candle, a pink robe, a very cool teapot and a meat slicer. I know a meat slicer is a very weird birthday gift but I have wanted one for quite some time so I can buy Hungarian salami and other meats like that in bulk cheaper and slice them at home. Plus the German bread from the German deli keeps fresh longer as well if you slice it yourself.

Mail update: Letters went out on Tuesday to: Jessica/DE and Charles/TN. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Celia/MA, Emilia/Finland, Tiffany/OK, Sarah/Canada and David/IN.  

Posted by Hanna at 02:20 PM in Austria , Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Birthday Surprise

Just a quick post before heading off to work. I honestly had the biggest surprise on Tuesday and I am still amazed at how many people were in on this and nobody let a word slip at all. My 30th birthday is this coming Saturday. On Tuesday Mike and I went out to dinner under the pretense of meeting some friends at the restaurant. As we were waiting for them to show up and I am looking over my menu, not thinking anything at all, my dad and mom walk in. I was in complete shock. Ha ha. I think it took me a good ten seconds to actually realize and register what was going on.

So yes definitely a good birthday surprise to have them here. They flew in on Tuesday from Austria and are staying until Wednesday next week. So they will be here for a full week which is nice. I managed to take the day off from work yesterday and we went to the North Fork of Long Island wine tasting, walking around the cute villages and all the way out to Orient Point State Park. A really nice day.

Today I have to be at work again but my parents will probably drive out to Long Island again and this time visit the South Fork, The Hamptons, Montauk Lighthouse, etc. I am sure they will have a good day. I will try to take one more day off while they are here, possibly Monday. And I have the weekend off too so that works out well.

Mail update: No letters have gone out. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Celia/MA, Jessica/DE, Emilia/Finland, Tiffany/OK and Charles/TN. 

Posted by Hanna at 07:54 AM in Austria , Memories, Wine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Snow in October .. so very very weird

Yes it actually snowed on Thursday and Friday this week. It didn’t stick to the roads luckily but it was enough to cover the windshields of the cars and be messy and annoying. It has barely reached 40F most days lately. Not the kind of weather that is normal for mid October. Ok, enough complaining.

Not too much else new really. Had to work today but am getting out at 2pm. Need to go grocery shopping. No other plans for the rest of the weekend. It’s supposed to pour all day tomorrow so it will be a good “stay at home catch up on TV” day I think. I am looking forward to sleeping in and just being lazy in general.

Next week the weather is supposed to get a little more normal I think. I hope that’s true. I don’t want it to snow on my birthday. Can’t believe my birthday is already next week Saturday. Time flies.

Mail update: No letters have gone out. Received letters from/still owe replies to: Tiffany/OK and Charles/TN. 

Posted by Hanna at 01:46 PM in Random Thoughts | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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