Long overdue- London August 2010

Horrible blogging family! I am sure by now you have all seen our pictures on facebook from our trip to London and Ireland this past August. I warn you this will be a long bloggy, but I will break it up into sections of our trip to make it a bit easier to follow. This entry is just London, I will post the Ireland part soon.

London

Well we flew into Hethrow and were greeted by my 2 aunts and 2 uncles. This was the first time Erik got to meet my aunt and uncle from Iran, I hadn’t seen either of them in 7 years, so I obviously cried when I hugged my aunt :) After a long nap at my aunt’s house we headed out to see the city. It was quite the long day, we walked around London and got to see Big Ben, House of Parliament, and the London Eye.

My cousin Farnaz, was doing some sweet karate moves with this weirdo on side of the road. We tried to take a video of it but we were too late.

There were a lot of street entertainers along our 3-4 hour walk to find a place called Nando’s. My cousins Parsa and Kian said that we just HAD to try Nando’s. So we walked... and walked... and walked... a few hours later we found the Nando’s and finally sat down to eat! It was definitely worth the wait.

After Nando’s we walked across the bridge that is featured in Harry Potter to the train station where we headed back to my Aunt’s house to rest up for the next day.

The next day my cousin Farnaz had the day off so she took us shopping on Oxford street. That place was INSANE. We need a lot of walking all day, going from shop to shop. We were mainly window shopping because everything is so much more expensive in Europe but we did go to a place called Primark. This is where we did most of our shopping, because the prices here were amazing. That night we went on a walking tour of all the places “Jack the Ripper” committed his murders. It was a really cool experience, and a bit creepy, ok it was really creepy, but I am really glad we got to do it.

The next day we headed out again to the British Museum. They had some really cool Iranian artifacts and we got to learn a bit about ancient Iran. After we walked through the Iranian exhibit we went to the ancient Egyptian exhibit. They had ACTUAL mummies there, like with real people inside them, I mean they were dead, but regardless there was actually a dead human inside the displays. Ew

Then we walked to Covent Garden Market, which is most similar to eastern market here in DC. We saw a guy playing the “Du Xian Qin” a Chinese musical instrument. It consisted of just ONE string, and he was playing some of the most beautiful music.

We then stopped and sat to watch a street show. It was performed by 2 brothers, it was a very entertaining performance. They had some crazy funny British humor, and they did really cool tricks. The one guy ( who was really tall) even did some crazy limbo.

The next day we went to Oxford, England to pick up my other cousin Farzam. We had to stop at the outlet mall on our way to Oxford, but when we got to Oxford we walked around and saw a bit of the University. The dork that I am thought this next picture was really awesome!

The following morning we set off for the weekend to a place called Center parcs which was a place full of small cabins in the middle of nowhere. But before we went we had to stop at the Costco to go food shopping. The lady at the cash register was amazed that we had 13 people there.

It was a very long drive but when we got there, we realized it was well worth it. They had a central building where they had a bunch of water slides and pools, and different sports activities. When we got there we went straight to the pool area, and rode the “rapids” water slide about 200 times, seriously. haha. The boys played paintball one morning while us ladies went to the Spa! Oh boy was the spa wonderful. It consisted of a series of different steam rooms and saunas. It was so relaxing, and it was really great to spend time with the ladies. We ate a lot and rode our bikes (which we rented) all around the park. It was a wonderful weekend.

Monday morning we left early with my cousin Farzam, and headed back to London, while the family spent the day at Center Parcs. When we got back to London, Erik and I went back into the city. We went to the London Bridge, which was really cool and HUGE.

Then took the train to Buckingham Palace, which was completely closed in by really tall walls, so we didn’t actually get to see the Palace. Then we took a nice walk over to Hyde Park. The park was really beautiful, but we were so exhausted we didn’t walk around the park. We then headed back to my aunt’s house and spent the rest of the day with my family. We left the next morning (verrrry early) for IRELAND! Ireland blog to be posted soon.. Stay Tuned :)

Thanksgiving Poem- from an email

TWAS THE NIGHT OF THANKSGIVING,
BUT I JUST COULDN'T SLEEP.
I TRIED COUNTING BACKWARDS,
I TRIED COUNTING SHEEP.

THE LEFTOVERS BECKONED -
THE DARK MEAT AND WHITE,
BUT I FOUGHT THE TEMPTATION
WITH ALL OF MY MIGHT.

TOSSING AND TURNING WITH ANTICIPATION,
THE THOUGHT OF A SNACK BECAME INFATUATION.
SO, I RACED TO THE KITCHEN, FLUNG OPEN THE DOOR,
AND GAZED AT THE FRIDGE, FULL OF GOODIES GALORE.
GOBBLED UP TURKEY AND BUTTERED POTATOES,
PICKLES AND CARROTS, BEANS AND TOMATOES.

I FELT MYSELF SWELLING SO PLUMP AND SO ROUND,
'TIL ALL OF A SUDDEN, I ROSE OFF THE GROUND.
I CRASHED THROUGH THE CEILING, FLOATING INTO THE SKY,
WITH A MOUTHFUL OF PUDDING AND A HANDFUL OF PIE.
BUT, I MANAGED TO YELL AS I SOARED PAST THE TREES....
HAPPY EATING TO ALL - PASS THE CRANBERRIES, PLEASE.

MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY,
MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP.
MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP.
MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS.
MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE,
MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!

In case anyone has been waiting for an update in my reading quest, my pace has slowed down significantly *sad face*. Also I have added quite a few books to my list, there is no way I am reading all of these books this year, but I will still try. Here is my list the ones in red are the ones I have already read, blue are the ones I am currently reading, and pink are the books that I currently own, the other books I will either borrow from the library or from some family or friend who has them...

1. The Time Traveler’s Wife- Audrey Niffenegger
2. Dear John- Nicolas Sparks (276 Pages)
3. House Rules-Jodi Picoult (532 Pages)
4. Bed of Roses- Nora Roberts (368 pages)
5. Wicked- Gregory Maguire (538 pages)
6. The Lucky One- Nicolas Sparks (352 pages)
7. The Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold (368 pages)
8. The Sun Also Rises- Earnest Hemingway (251 pages)
9. Friday Night Knitting Club- Kate Jacobs (384 pages)
10. Savor the Moment- Nora Roberts (352 pages)
11. Learning to Think- Peter White (328 pages)
12. The Road- Cormac McCarthy
13. Something Borrowed- Emily Griffin (352 Pages)
14. Something Blue- Emily Griffin (368 Pages)
15. Baby Proof- Emily Griffin (368 Pages)
16. Knit Two- Kate Jacobs (336 pages)
17. Love the one you’re with- Emily Griffin (368 Pages)
18. Heart of the Matter- Emily Griffin (384 Pages)
19. Vanishing Acts- Jodi Picoult (448 pages)
20. Knit the Season: A Friday night knitting club Novel- Kate Jacobs (272 pages)
21. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams (224 pages)
22. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe- Douglas Adams (256 pages)
23. Life, the Universe and Everything- Douglas Adams (240 pages)
24. So long, and Thanks for all the Fish- Douglas Adams (224 pages)
25. Mostly Harmless- Douglas Adams (240 pages)
26. Second Glance- Jodi Picoult (448 pages)
27. Perfect Match- Jodi Picoult (368 pages)
28. Happy Ever After- Nora Roberts (320 pages)
29. Salem Falls- Jodi Picoult (464 pages)
30. Message in a Bottle- Nicolas Sparks (352 pages)
31. Keeping Faith- Jodi Picoult (448 pages)
32. The Rescue- Nicolas Sparks (339 pages)
33. The Girl who played with Fire- Stieg Larsson (630 pages)
34. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo- Stieg Larsson (608 pages)
35. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest- Stieg Larsson (576 pages)
36. Son of a Witch- Gregory Maguire (352 Pages)
37. The Pact- Jodi Picoult (416 pages)
38. A Bend in the Road- Nicolas Sparks (352 pages)
39. Mercy- Jodi Picoult (416 pages)
40. Nights in Rodanthe- Nicolas Sparks (240 pages)
41. Picture Perfect- Jodi Picoult (384 pages)
42. The Alchemist- Paulo Coehlo (208 pages)
43. A Lion among Men- Gregory Maguire (336 pages)
44. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies- Jane Austen/ Seth Grahame-Smith (320 pages)
45. The Wedding- Nicolas Sparks (304 pages)
46. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister- Gregory Maguire (384 pages)
47. Harvesting the Heart- Jodi Picoult (464 pages)
48. Three Weeks with my Brother- Nicolas Sparks (368 pages)
49. Songs of the Humpback Whale- Jodi Picoult (352 pages)
50. Lost- Gregory Maguire (352 pages)
51. The Guardian- Nicolas Sparks (384 pages)
52. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia – Elizabeth Gilbert (352 Pages)
53. The Blind Side- Michael Lewis (352 pages)
54. True Believer- Nicolas Sparks (480 pages)
55. At First Sight- Nicolas Sparks (352 pages)
56. Mirror, Mirror- Gregory Maguire (320 pages)
57. The Choice- Nicolas Sparks (336 pages)
58. Three Cups of Tea- Greg Mortenson (349 pages)
59. Just take my heart- Mary Higgins (416 pages)
60. The last child- John Hart (432 pages)
61. Look Again- Lisa Scottoline (416 pages)
62. Olive Kitteridge- Elizabeth Strout (304 pages)
63. The Shack- William P. Young (272 pages)
64. And Another Thing- Eoin Colfer (288 pages)
65. The Art of Racing in the Rain- (336 pages)
66. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet- Jamie Ford (320 pages)
67. MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS, by Rhoda Janzen (272 pages)
68. Di Vinci Code- Dan Brown

Boston Trip

Oh man there is so much to write about here; I will try and keep it short (yea right). We flew out of BWI into Logan airport on Thursday night, and as soon as we got there and checked onto our hotel, we went out to celebrate Hyojon’s 25th birthday.

The next morning we made our way over to Fenway Park and took some pictures, and walked around for a bit. Then we walked across a very very long bridge over to MIT. While at MIT we walked around the campus, which was really cool, and went to the bookstore and bought some hoodies and sweatpants. For lunch we went to one of MIT’s road-side food stand named The Clover, it was quite delish. Here are a few pictures of MIT.



After absorbing some more intelligence, we made our way back into the city and went to the bar where the sitcom “Cheers” was filmed. That was a really cool experience, because I know I had watched the show when I was younger. Here is a Cheer’s mug:


We relaxed a while, did a little bit of chit-chatting and decided we wanted to head over to the Harpoon Brewery. Boy oh boy did we have a great time there, the guy who was conducting the tasting was hilarious and the beer was really good. I think we are all fans of Harpoon now. After Harpoon we made our way to Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall area, we walked around and absorbed the area, but we were all getting very grumpy and hungry. We ended up going to this little mom and pop Italian restaurant, which was really good. The amount of food per serving was ridiculous, way too much food for one person. After a long day of adventure we all went to bed when we got back to the hotel rooms, to prepare for Saturday.

On Saturday my friend Kelly joined us in Boston. We started the day by making a fabulous breakfast decision! We went to a place called Finagle a Bagel; oh man it was so good we went there for breakfast Sunday morning as well. After breakfast we took the train to the Samuel Adams brewery. We took a tour of the brewery, which was smaller than I had thought it would be, then went for a free tasting. The tasting was delish, nothing more to say about that.



Then we made another good food decision and went to another restaurant near the brewery, Erik had some amazing Clam Chowder in a bread bowl, and I had a fabulous burger. Highlight of the meal, was when the people sitting behind us let us hold and play with their baby girl. She was really cute. After the brewery we went back to our hotels for a quick nap, then got back together and sat on the hotel’s rooftop terrace, more relaxing and chit-chat. Then we were hungry (again), so we went to the Oyster house. I, as you know, am not a fan of seafood but I wasn’t going to make the entire group miss out on it, so we went. We had a good time at dinner, but were so tired we couldn’t stay out late. We ended up going back to our hotel area and went to a dive bar, and had a great time.


On Sunday, half of our group let to go back home early in the morning, so we didn’t really have too much planned. After Finagle-a-bagel we went the Old North Church and walked around Quincy Market. We had some yummy Mexican food at Quincy Market then headed back to our hotel to pick up our stuff and head to the airport. We got to the airport about 4 hours before our flight left, in hopes of getting on standby (no luck). So we sat at the airport and read our books until our flight home.

All in all it was a wonderful trip and we are all so excited we got to go. Check out my facebook for more pictures of our trip.

DC Scavenger Hunt

I am a horrible blog keeper! At the beginning of this month we participated in the DC challenge. Our group consisted of us, Sean, Brandy, Hyojon and Kate. Other people had signed up to be in our group, but had things come up at the last minute. The organizers of the scavenger hunt handed out clues of places we were supposed to go and take pictures at. One of the clues was, “Find an item that is older than the institution itself.” So we went to the Smithsonian and found this desk and took a picture with that. Another clue was to find a person wearing an “I love DC” t-shirt and take a picture with them; you get the idea. Here is a picture of our group when we started the hunt…

And here is one of us 3 and a half hours later (it was sooooo hot that day)…

We had a great time; we got to be out in DC when the weather was really nice, with our friends. The only negative aspect of the day was that the winners of the scavenger hunt had completed it in an hour and a half… Needless to say, if they had had a way of letting people know the race was over, we would have been able to walk the next day.

I would probably do this hunt again next year, but maybe have a better mapping system and plan out our route better.

Workout Room

We have finally decided what to do with the basement. We don’t really use it right now other than to keep Ella down there and her food and what not. But I am going to transform it into a usable room. My mommy is letting us have an old TV that they don’t use, an extra dvd player, and a rug she has in her living room, that she is replacing with a new one. I am going to get a set of adjustable weights and a little later we will get a workout bench. This way, when one of us can’t make it to the gym/we are too lazy to leave the house to go to the gym, we can still get in a good workout. I will continue to use my Jillian Michael’s dvds (which are aweeesome), and Erik will do some weight lifting man thing haha. Maybe I can convince him to do some Jillian Michaels workouts with me. Once the room is finished I will put pictures up. I am terrible about pictures. Eek.

Ella’s Stitches Removed!

Last week we had to take Ella in because we thought her incision was infected, poor baby. The vet said he didn’t think it was infected but that it was entirely way too red and swollen, so he put her on antibiotics and told us to give her Benadryl to keep her calm. It worked! Erik took Ella into the vet yesterday and she had her stitches removed. She is going to be a cone head at least until Monday because her incision is still healing and we all know what a healing scab feels like! But she will be back to new soon!

Baby Ella gets spayed!!

I took our little baby Ella into the Animal Hospital for her spay appointment on Friday. And for the next two weeks she has to wear a cone around her neck while she is in her crate, our poor little cone-head. I cannot find my cable to attach my camera, to get a picture of here up yet, but I will try when I get home sometime this week.

We also had a little BBQ party at our house Saturday afternoon, which went really well. The food was super yummy, but the weather was a different story. People had to borrow hoodies and sweatpants from us and we had the firepit going. But the CAPS won game 2 so the night ended well.

Reading quest news: I finished “The time Traveler’s Wife”, and it was fabulous, my friend Brandy told me not to waste my time watching the movie, because it was horrible. I will probably still watch it, but will end up regretting it haha. I have about 98 pages left to read of “Dear John”, and after that I will be starting House Rules, by Jodi Picoult. I had a few suggestions from my friends on Facebook and from Aunt Sue, so I added these books to my list:

1. Something Borrowed- Emily Griffin
2. Something Blue- Emily Griffin
3. Baby Proof- Emily Griffin
4. Love the one you’re with- Emily Griffin
5. The Alchemist- Paulo Coehlo
6. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies- Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
7. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams
8. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe- Douglas Adams
9. Life, the Universe and Everything- Douglas Adams
10. So long, and Thanks for all the Fish- Douglas Adams
11. Mostly Harmless- Douglas Adams
12. And Another Thing- Eoin Colfer
13. The Art of Racing in the Rain
14. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Needless to say I don’t think I will be able to read all 56 of them this year, but I am still going to try. Once I get my camera hooked up, I will put up a few pictures of our backyard, and cone-head Ella.

My reading quest

Nowadays on my Fridays off, instead of watching TV all day, I will go outside and lay in our hammock and read. It is quite relaxing, and a great way to unwind. Also when my friend Jamie is busy during lunch I get to read my book during lunch, which is also really nice.

There are 42 books I want to read, and I would like to read them this year. You may think it is impossible, seeing as how we only have 8 months left in the year, which would come out to be about 5 books a month. I think I can do it, but I am going to have to start borrowing them from the library, because this reading habit of mine is getting quite expensive.

I want to read all of Jodi Picoult’s books, as well as Nicolas Sparks. I know most of their books are similar in theme, but I really enjoy their style of writing. I also got a few other books from the NY Times bestsellers list, and Oprah’s book club. Here is my complete list:


1. The Time Traveler’s Wife- Audrey Niffenegger <- I have 30 pages left
2. Dear John- Nicolas Sparks
3. House Rules- Jodi Picoult
4. Bed of Roses- Nora Roberts
5. The lucky One- Nicolas Sparks
6. The Sun Also Rises- Earnest Hemingway
7. Vanishing Acts- Jodi Picoult
8. Savor the Moment- Nora Roberts (April 2010 release)
9. Second Glance- Jodi Picoult
10. Friday Night Knitting Club
11. Perfect Match- Jodi Picoult
12. Happy Ever After- Nora Roberts (November 2010 Release)
13. Salem Falls- Jodi Picoult
14. Message in a Bottle- Nicolas Sparks
15. Keeping Faith- Jodi Picoult
16. The Rescue- Nicolas Sparks
17. The Pact- Jodi Picoult
18. A Bend in the Road- Nicolas Sparks
19. Mercy- Jodi Picoult
20. Nights in Rodanthe- Nicolas Sparks
21. Picture Perfect- Jodi Picoult
22. The Wedding- Nicolas Sparks
23. Harvesting the Heart- Jodi Picoult
24. Three Weeks with my Brother- Nicolas Sparks
25. Songs of the Humpback Whale- Jodi Picoult
26. The Guardian- Nicolas Sparks
27. The blind Side- Michael Lewis
28. True Believer- Nicolas Sparks
29. Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert
30. At First Sight- Nicolas Sparks
31. Wicked
32. The Choice- Nicolas Sparks
33. The lovely Bones- Alice Sebold
34. The Road- Cormac McCarthy
35. My Horizontal Life- Chelsea Handler
36. Three Cups of Tea- Greg Mortenson
37. Just take my heart- Mary Higgins
38. The last child- John Hart
39. Look Again- Lisa Scottoline
40. Olive Kitteridge- Elizabeth Strout
41. Di Vinci Code- Dan Brown
42. The Shack- William P. Young


okie that is all for now!

Gardening Adventures part II

This past weekend, Erik and I put up a little fence around my veggie garden. We are hoping it keeps Ella out of it, but I do not have high hopes. She is way too curious to keep away. I transplanted my zucchini, cucumbers and some of my tomatoes into the garden, because they were getting too tall for my little indoor greenhouse. I think I transplanted them too soon, I don’t think they were strong enough. I think my cucumbers are already dead. *sad face*

I am hoping to go to the Alexandria Farmers Market this coming Saturday, but they are only open from 5am-10am, this would require us to get up pretty early to get our butts moving. hehe, I will let you know how that goes.

Jr. Seubert’s are going on a honeymoon!

Yes that’s right, we finally booked our flights for our honeymoon! First we are going to London for 10 days to stay with my family. My aunt from Iran is also going to come meet us in London, oh ya and we are forcing my mom and sister to come too! We can’t wait to see everyone again, and see the sights in England (Erik has never been before). Theeennn after our family trip in London, Erik and I are going on our official honeymoon.

We are going to IRELAND! Neither of us has been there before and we are getting more and more excited about it. We are going to be staying at a series of Bed and Breakfasts in different cities in the southern part of Ireland. YAY we can’t wait! More details later :)

Gardening Adventures Part 1

Last gardening season was my inaugural season, and needless to say my garden was a bit.. schizophrenic… I had planted way too many seeds, and with all the rain, the seeds had all moved so I didn’t know what was growing where. This was really only a problem with the herbs. So at the end of last season, we completely uprooted the garden, and covered it with leaves and grass clippings.

A couple of weeks ago I bought an indoor greenhouse thingy. And I planted my seeds in there. This year I will be growing: green beans, zucchini, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, rosemary, oregano, cilantro, bell peppers, sweet basil and cucumbers. I think I already have too many plants, I will have to donate some to a few friends and family 

Last weekend we used turned the soil in our vegetable garden. They are growing quite quickly and if the weather is nice this weekend I might have to start transplanting some of them into my garden. Our little Ella is going to jump in my garden and eat all my vegetables. So I need some suggestions to keep her out, all I can think of right now is to get a few sticks and make a tall rope gate thing. I think I will try out a few Ella barriers before I transplant to see what she does with them.

I will post more gardening adventures throughout the spring and summer.

Recipe exchange bloggy

Hey guys!

I have created a new blog in addition to this one.


Its called Recipe-Switch-a-roo


Post your favorite recipes and use some that have already been posted! YAY

First Bloggy of 2010 :)

I suppose it is about time for an update! We have been keeping ourselves busy with Ella and life in general. I have been cooking up a storm when we get home from work everyday and I love it. Cooking really sheds away the long workday for me, add a glass of wine and you’ve got yourself a party. We had a great holiday and a really fun New Years party. Ella is getting bigger and bigger everyday. She is almost as big as Dolly (her mom), hopefully she won’t be getting too much bigger.

I guess the biggest news is that I am starting on a new project on Monday. I am really excited, because for once I feel like I am needed and wanted at my job. The new people I will be working with are so nice and approachable. And the best part is that I get a WINDOW SEAT! Yessssssss, ah the small joys in the workplace, oh ya and people smile when they walk around and actually say good morning.

Erik and I have been throwing around ideas about what we want to do next to our house. We have a crazy awesome design in our heads to expand our house in the back and add another floor. It won’t be happening for a few years, unless we win the lottery or find a large sum of money lying on the ground. But we want to sit down and come up with a drawing for our house expansion project and divide it into more manageable sections. Once we do that we can get pricing on the different sections and we can start saving appropriately. I think we are addicted to house renovations.

Well I believe that is all for now, I will try and keep this page more current.