My Very Own Lawn!

Today I mowed my own lawn. I had never mowed a lawn before, so it was an exciting double whammy. Eliot took pictures of the proud moment. It was 80 degrees and I was wearing flip flops which I was told is not appropriate show gear for this sort of task but it turn out okay. I still have all ten toes. There is apparently also strategy involved. Some mowers like an up and down the aisle path, while others prefer the circular system. I have got to say, though it was my first time and all I think my diagonal sporadic approach did not only provided a bit more entertaining way of mowing but it worked just as well.

The End My Friend

Tonight marks the last night of Spring Break. On Monday morning I will bounce up and head to work to teach the future of country about Camus, Bhagavad Gita and Plato's Cave. I am so ready and rested. After two glorious weeks of beach, Amsterdam, hanging out with friends,various parties this weekend and a dash of soccer this coming afternoon. It has been the greatest vacation ever!

The last stretch of the school year is coming. Only 6 more weeks of my classes left and two months until graduation. Lots of fun times coming soon: E and I are going to Prom (I keep having to tell my mom that it's not actually my prom but its fun to shop and be silly about it) and to see Avenue Q which is my favorite Broadway show ever. He is going to love it! There are a couple more trips on the way: Puerto Rico for a wedding and of course the Spain summer.

Do they look anything alike to you?

Snack King

Considering the United States is the king of fast food and consumerism you would have thought that we would have thought of inventing the Snack King. The Snack King is simply the most genuis invention of the Dutch. These charming restaurants(using the term loosely) are located in the heart of the nightlife. So whether you are pub jumping, club hopping or coffee shop touring, you can end you night at the Snack King. It is a multipurpose fast food stop. Your wasted and need a slice of greasy pizza or perhaps a giant hotdog...burrito...falfel, stop at the Snack King. Let's say your dehydrated from shaking that ass and you would like a gatorade...water...fruit smoothie, stop at the Snack King. If you have the mad munchies but you and your crew can't decide between ice cream cones, lattes or french fries, stop at the Snack King. It is the greatest invention. This is the after hours savor. God bless the Snack King and all its wise servants. Stumble buy one today.

We ELOPED!

Naturally in the brisk Spring air there are birds a chirping in the morning as we wake and it looks like a sunny glorious European day. We bundle up under our many layers with a clear thought in mind. Go to the bridge. Take the jump. So we do. While we were nicely tucked onto a metro the skies turned gray and windy. We rode the escalator up and finished our last bundling up moments before heading towards the mighty Amstel river. The windy swirled around us and what first seemed like an innocent sprinkle of rain, ended with a snow storm (the Floridian's definition to storm means lots of snowy sprinkle thingys.) We continued towards our goal. At first we were excited and then the natural apprehension occurred when we arrived. The nerves. The cold feet (literally.) Then we saw it. The sign in graved in stone "Berlagebrig." We found Tracy's grandfathers' bridge. A famous architect from Holland that certainly made a name for himself to the point of being highly regarded by our New Orleans born server, she was impressed that we would know such people.

After our little adventure we headed to see VanGogh which there was no doubt of his brilliance. He had the ability to recreate himself as an artist later in life and evolve through his influences of people and of art. Brilliant. We tucked ourselves into a tiny pub with some well poured pints and blokes all around.

Our day ended after eating the best darn cheeseburger a human has ever consumed and heading to the Red Light District. I was amazed at how casual it is to be half naked standing in a store front and how little it struck me as odd. Maybe I have known too many whores in my life and it seems like they are simply among you or maybe the hype is simply not that bad. It was like any crowded street in any town with bars and sex shows (kind like being on US 19 except red.) The feel was not overly seedy. We did take in a live show and with a 4 drink complimentary ticket we were sure to see every act. Again, if you have seen any porn on TV there is no need to squeamish. Most ladies danced and stripped to a short series of songs and even the actual heterosexual intercourse was fairly traditional and unalarming. Though, there was a moment where a woman smoked a cigarette with her vagina and that to me was the most offensive demonstration of her talents.

Oh. For all those waiting for it, we didn't elope. Silly people.

Public Transit

After a nice laid back first day in the Netherlands, the jetlag hit. We hit a "coffee shop" and decided to head back to our hotel.

Amsterdam must hold some sort of record for public transit options. There are trams, busses, metros, trains, and of course, bikes. Bicycles every where. There really is no reason to have a car at all and wouldn't it be great to be able to tell the oil grubbers to piss off at $3.25 a gallon.

We hopped on the metro to Centraal Station and then decided that the tram was the way to go. Except that we couldn't find the tram stop and E remembered that there was a bus that took us back as well...it was either the 42 or 43 or 41 or...well you see the issue. We got on a bus (to be honest I wasn't sure which actual vehicle we were on.) The bus went, as busses do and our hotel never was a glimmer in the distance.

As our bus changed lanes, I noticed there was a car right next to us. The car took a left turn and was at that moment that I had an ephiphany: We were not on a tram. Trams have tracks. Busses do not. My brilliant discovery. I had mental flow charts and colorful remarks to add but as I tried to explain to E what I had discovered it really didn't seem to have the same impact on him.

lloyd hotel

We arrived to Amsterdam around 5AM Holland time. The flights were long as always but fairly uneventful which is just the way I like it.

The taxi driver dropped us off at the door step of the glorious Lloyd Hotel
Granted at that absurd time in the morning there was not a welcome committee waiting for us and we weren't really even expecting to get a room since we were hours before check in but some friendly smiles and travels luck we came up the charming registrar at the front desk and were given the last available room.

This is hands down the coolest hotel room ever! You walk into the room to see a staircase that heads down and leads to a mystery passage door. A full kitchen with appliances, 1920's furniture and clearly quirky Dutch designer influenced. The coolest part is our fluffy double bed is positioned in a private room within the room that is raised off the ground about 5 feet and you have to climb into. There are a couple of windows for a quaint view and it provides the ability to cut off the natural light and have pitch black restful sleep. Perfect. After taking a ton of silly pictures (that hopefully will be posted at some point), we fell into bed.

Though a bit nippy; the city is great and anytime you can have a beer with eggs for breakfast its a good time.

Spring Break 2008

Thankfully the gods had gotten together to speed up the calendar and have finally brought us to the best two weeks of the year, well at least for now. I am free. I am going to sleep and read and beach and get my nails done and sleep and read. Maybe I will even garden. Who knows the universe is wide open. Spring break is the best invention on the planet.

Oh and there is only four more days until Amsterdam with E which will be wonderful, since we will spend one full week together, everyday waking up next to each other (insert goofy smile here) and exploring Holland. It will be great. Stay tuned for the adventures to come!

Lamp Shades

Have you ever taken a moment to consider that not many people actually put lampshades on their heads when completely tipsy? Where did this concept come from? Was there a time where people once did frequently place lampshades upon their heads?

It turns out that you send some girls to an all girls weekend in Ft. Myers and you get lampshades. After an evening of elegance, jazz, fine dining, we ended up in what surely is a Spring Break haven for young college co-eds trying to find a little tequilla and live music, a Mexican dive only about a half mile from our beloved hotel room. So with over a 100 margaritas to chose from and a musical pioneer (he sung Piano Man without a Piano) to entertain, we drank, just a little.
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