A Day in Hanna's World

Memorial Day Weekend

Happy Memorial Day to everyone in the US. Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.  We are having a very laidback weekend at home. Decided we have been pretty busy lately so a nice laidback weekend at home was just the right thing. 

Yesterday I worked in the yard for a bit (It was soo humid though) and then played the Sims for a bit, caught up on some emails and other web stuff. Today is pretty much just more of the same. :) Slept in late again. Mike's watching the Mets game on TV right now while I am surfing the web. Might make myself some tea and sit outside for a bit with a book in a little while. I should do more yard work but feeling lazy today. 

Tomorrow we have to work but hopefully should be a quieter day. We will see. Then Tuesday will probably be pretty busy. The day after the holiday always tends to be a little crazy. Wednesday I should be off again since I am working next Saturday. 

Only a little over a month now before I head to Austria/France. Time is definitely flying. Still a lot to do before I go but it's a nice thought for the back of my mind anyway. :)

Mail Update: Received a letter from Carmen/Malta, Celia/MA, Charles/TN and Lotte/Denmark. 

Happy New Year's from New Hampshire/Maine

Happy New Year's from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It's a pretty dreary rainy day today but that's ok. Was the perfect weather to sleep in. Going to have lunch in a bit at the Coat and Arms British pub, then going to head over to York, Maine to go to the Stonewall Kitchen store and to see the lighthouse there. After that we will head back and see what time it is. We have dinner reservations at Mombo at Strawberry Banke at 7pm. Should be a delicious dinner hopefully. :)

Yesterday we left Danbury around 7:30am, stopped in New Hampshire at one of their massive liquor stores they have right off the highway (no sales tax-yay). Got a couple of bottles of wine and a bottle of sparkling rose for New Year's. Then headed to Kennebunkport, Maine for lunch. As always Federal Jack's was great, yummy lunch. Afterward we headed back to New Hampshire and checked in at our bed and breakfast in Portsmouth. Relaxed in the room for a bit and then walked into the town center for an early dinner. Had some yummy food at the Portsmouth brewery and then some wine at the Black Trumpet wine bar.

Tomorrow it's already time to go back home again. Can't believe it's already 2012 tomorrow. Hope all of you have a great New Year's and a great start to 2012. Anybody have any New Year's resolutions? Mine are the same as always. Lose some weight, try to work on our backyard, cook more at home, exercise more. Yeah, we will see how that goes. :)

Mail update: Letters going out soon to: Lotte/Denmark, Charles/TN and Jessica/DE. Received letters from/owe replies to: Nicki/OZ, Celia/MA and Sayaka/Japan.

Christmas Post

Merry belated Christmas every one. :) Hope you all had a nice holiday. Mike & I worked on the 24th but were able to leave around 4pm which wasn't so bad. Plus it was a pretty quiet day. When we got home we arranged our small Christmas Eve feast (brie & baguette, shrimp cocktail, brocooli & ranch dip, pepperjack cheese & crackers and some wine) and caught up on the rest of our shows. Had a nice relaxing night. 

Yesterday on the 25th we slept in a little and then opened our gifts with Mike's sister, niece and nephew. Lots of nice gifts. Some fun stuff from around the world including tea, stationery, body spray, soap, ornaments, hand warmers, etc. Both Mike & Kristina got me boxes of sausage/salami and cheese (one from Hickory Farms and one from I Gourmet) :) So I am all set in that department for a little while now. And Mike also got me tickets to see the Kooks in Cincinnati, Ohio on 2/29. Very cool. :)

In the afternoon Mike & I went over to our friend Tim's house and had lots more food and wine. A very enjoyable relaxing afternoon talking, eating and drinking. The holidays definitely seem to make people stuff their faces. :) But there is always January to go on a diet right?

This week it's back to normal and back to work again. But at least it's just a four day week for us since we are going to Portsmouth, New Hampshire for New Year's on Friday. Looking forward to a weekend away from home, just to relax. :) Will be nice. Can't believe it's almost 2012 already now. Where has this year gone?

Mail update: Received letters from/owe replies to: Nicki/OZ, Lotte/Denmark, Jessica/DE and Charles/TN.

NYC Christmas Weekend

One more week until Christmas. Time definitely flies.

Yesterday I had a dentist appointment at 9am which wasn't much fun (not a big fan of dentists). But afterwards we went to New York which is always fun. I love seeing the city at Christmas time, the decorations on 5th Ave, Rockefeller Center, the tree with the skating rink. They also have a pretty Christmas market type place at Bryant Park (right by the NYC Library) with a skating rink and a neat restaurant/bar. Having said all that the one part I don't like about NY at Christmastime are the crowds. But we did our usual loop, saw all the Christmas stuff and then went to Chevy's in Times Square for some yummy food and margaritas. They have this delicious cranberry margarita in December that I really like. Had yummy shrimp fajitas and lots of chips and salsa.

Today we had a pretty relaxed day too. Slept in late, then met up with a few friends in the afternoon. Our friend John just came back from a 2 month trip South America so it was great to catch up with him and hear some of his travel stories. Definitely jealous of all the amazing places he went. :) But definitely just adds to the places I want to go. My travel list definitely never gets any shorter. :)

Mail update: A letter is going out tomorrow to: Celia/MA. Received letters from/owe replies to: Lotte/Denmark, Jessica/DE and Charles/TN.

And it's Monday again

And it's already Monday again. Time flies. Last week was fairly uneventful, the usual stuff at work. Managed to take half a day off (Wednesday afternoon) so that was nice. Worked all day Saturday and then went to the movies with a friend at night. Sunday we met our friend Tim for lunch and hung out for a while (the place we went to had $5 pizza and happy hour specials so it ended up being a great deal), then watched some TV shows in the evening.

This week is looking fairly normal at the moment too. Need to get working on the Christmas school break and contact a bunch of the school systems to set up deliveries so they are covered for when they return from their break. Dragging my feet on it at the moment because I really hate doing it. But won't be able to procrastinate much longer.

Making some plans for the upcoming summer next year at the moment. I usually try to go see my parents in Austria over the summer. Working on some travel ideas alongside that for this summer. Don't want to post about the details just yet in case it falls through. Don't want to jinx it. :)

Mail update: A letter went out to: Nina/WA on Thursday. And letters are also going out to: Carmen and Eunice/Malta. Received letters from/owe replies to: Celia/MA and Charles/TN.

It's beginning to look a lot like ...

 ... Christmas. I don't even know where this year has gone. Only three weeks until Christmas. Spent the day decorating today. Happy to say that all my decorations around the house including the tree are now up. :)

Yesterday we spent the day running some errands, taking care of some other things and today focused on the decorations. Was able to get everything done and set up. Happy with the tree. We went for white lights this year and put up a combination of our and Kristina's decorations on the tree. Came out pretty.

Click here if you want to see a picture of my little Christmas village.

Also all done with my Christmas shopping for the most part. Just need to pick up a couple gift cards and also need to wrap everything. But I am hesitant to put anything under the tree with all the cats around so the wrapping might not happen until Christmas Eve. We will see.  

What are everyone's plans for Christmas and New Year's? We will be spending New Year's at a bed and breakfast in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Not sure about Christmas. We will definitely be home in the morning opening our gifts with Mike's sister and kids. Will figure out the rest of the day later.

Mail update: Received letters from/owe replies to: Carmen/Malta, Eunice/Malta and Nina/WA

Christmas Mail

As you can see in the picture I have been busy writing my Christmas cards and of course the cats have been a great help (or so they think anyway I am sure) I finished my international card batch on Sunday and my domestic US/Canada cards yesterday, Tuesday. Also packaged up all my gifts that need to be mailed. Hopefully we can make it to the post office tomorrow or Friday and get all that mailed out.

Haven't put up any decorations around the house yet but I figure I will do that this weekend. One of my staff members decorated everything up at the office really nice so been surrounded by it at work since Friday last week. Should get to it at home over the weekend.

Work's been steadily busy which is about normal for this time of the year. Ready for another vacation but we won't get a break until New Year's when we have our 2-night B&B getaway in New Hampshire. Definitely looking forward to that. 

Mail update: Received letters from/owe replies to: Carmen/Malta, Eunice/Malta and Nina/WA

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone. :) Had a nice day yesterday. We slept in, lounged around the house for a bit (I got three letters done while sitting on the couch with the cats and drinking tea) and then went to dinner at the Hopkins Inn at Lake Waramaug with Mike's sister, nephew, niece & niece's boyfriend. Pricey but super delicious. I really enjoyed the way they set everything up. No matter what you ordered (they had scallops, salmon, pork, prime rib, etc. along with the traditional turkey dinner) you still got mashed potatoes & stuffing and a choice of other traditional side dishes & fixings. Very neat. I had Wiener Schnitzel (the inn has an Austrian chef) which was delicious. First time ever having schnitzel alongside of mashed potatoes and stuffing though. But definitely tasted yummy. :) And of course let's not forget the Toblerone Sundae for dessert. Soooo good.

Working today and tomorrow which kind of sucks. Full day on Saturday too but what can you do? Will get a comp day which I can use later on. Looking forward to our weekend in New Hampshire for New Year's which will be nice. 

This weekend I need to get started on my Christmas cards. I need to ask some people for updated addresses, will have to check my list this weekend to see who I am missing. If any of you have changed addresses since last year let me know. :)

I also need to put up our Christmas decorations inside the house but not sure when I will get to that. Might have to wait until next weekend which will only be December 3rd/4th so not unreasonable.

 Mail update: I still need to mail the three letters I wrote so letters should be going out on Monday to: Charles/TN, Jessica/DE and Lotte/Denmark. Still owe replies to: Carmen/Malta, Eunice/Malta and Nina/WA

Almost Thanksgiving - where has the year gone?

Another week gone by. Was off on Tuesday again. Decluttered part of our closet during the day, amazing how much stuff accumulates over the years. Granted some of it was stuff that was still from Mike's parents too. But a lot of it was also things from when I first moved over here (immigration papers, items from our Austrian wedding, lot of little tidbits)

Yesterday, Saturday, we worked. Then had a late lunch/early dinner and caught up on a bunch of our recorded TV shows. Today we slept in, then met a friend and went for Japenese food for lunch. Yumm. Now back home, catching up on some emails and then going to have cheese & crackers and some wine and catch up on more shows.

Can't believe it's already Thanksgiving next week. Work has been incredibly busy so that's always a challenge. Made reservations at the Hopkins Inn for dinner. None of us feel like cooking so that will be nice. Going with Mike's sister, niece and nephew. Always enjoy the Hopkins Inn so should be good.

Sort mail update for today. A letter went out to: Celia/MA on Thursday. Received letters from: Lotte/Denmark, Carmen/Malta, Eunice/Malta and Nina/WA.  

4th of July weekend

Happy 4th of July to everyone in the US! I am just happy that I finally made it to this point which means I now "only" have to deal with the aftermath (any customers who claim to not have known that we were closed for the holiday - I am sure we will come in on Tuesday and find plenty of messages on our overnight answering machine, people trying to place orders, looking for orders and whatnot) We will see what next week brings.

I now have less than 3 weeks to go before I leave for Austria which is very exciting but also a little bit daunting as I still have a lot to get done before then. But I am sure as always things will work themselves out one way or another. They always do.

No real plans for this weekend. We worked yesterday, have today and tomorrow off. Today was mostly a veg out-do nothing kind of day. Relaxed, caught up on some emails, did a few things/chores around the house. For dinner we will probably check out a new Spanish tapas bar that opened up in Danbury not too long ago. We really fell in love with tapas restaurants when we were in Australia in January. Hope this one turns out to be good. :)

Mail Update: A letter will be going out soon to: Charles/TN. Received letters from: Celia/MA, Jessica/DE, Lotte/Denmark, Nina/WA, Tiffany/OK and Sarah/Canada.