thursday 10.01.09

at the wisconsin asthma coalition meeting in marshfield, wi. at the dinner presentation. listening to ‘techniques supporting relationship centered care and shared decision making’ by dr. michael cabana from the university of california, san francisco.


-bkh

wednesday 09.30.09

hanging out on my bed. staring up at the poster hanging above my bed (no, not that one – i took that one down). talking on the phone with katie naessans. playing some long overdue catch up about her d.c. life, and my madison life, and whatever falls in between there. oh, a friend like katie is perfect on a wednesday evening.


-bkh

tuesday 09.29.09

connie schryver – ryan’s mom aka an angel from above – coming to pick up liza for two (two!) weeks. ryan has a bit of work traveling to do, and liza does much better in lake geneva with mr. & mrs. schryver than madison without ryan. ryan’s showing her his and fred’s new pride & joy: the liquor cabinet. no, not a hutch. no, not a china cabinet. a liquor cabinet. complete with illuminating lights. the house really is coming together just as nicely as anyone could imagine.


-bkh

monday 09.28.09

another barriques shift. buying myself some blue heeler coffee beans. new roommate fred came with new appliance – a coffee maker! whoever would have thought the barista didn’t have a coffee maker in her house? bought some coffee beans and ground them up (for a drip) to make myself some morning coffee to bring to the office in my thermos.

-bkh

sunday 09.27.09

updating the blog. caught red-handed. yowzas am i behind after europe. good thing i kept a journal of captions for the pictures while i was traveling.

-bkh

saturday 09.26.09

closing barriques with new co-worker matt (or maybe it’s mike). closing barriques for the first and last time with new co-worker mike (or maybe it’s matt). he quit two days after this shift. maybe it’s because i kept calling him matt (or mike). twas my first shift back after six weeks away. finally grabbing a moment during the unusually busy saturday to teach him how to pull bakery for the openers to bake the next day. it was a pleasure knowing you for a few hours, mike/matt.


-bkh

friday 09.25.09

shhhh – aroma therapy yoga. three hours of yin yoga taught by two of my favorite inner fire instructors. yin yoga paired with essential oils. oh so relaxing i just wanted to fall asleep (and maybe i did). the class was deep stretches, which we have already established i am very good at, and ended in a meditation. my eyes were closed for much of the three relaxing blissful & peaceful hours.


-bkh

thursday 09.24.09

michael pollan speaking at the khol center. talking to madison folks about local, organic, seasonal, food. preaching to the choir here, i bet. i don’t think the kohl center has ever heard this much cheering and applause. the place was packed for the ‘go big read’ event put on by the university. luckily reina and i biked to the kohl center in enough time to get spots after cooking up some of our own fresh vegetarian food.


-bkh

wednesday 09.23.09

new roommate fred. in the kitchen making some chex mix. fred had an itch for some chex mix, so we went over to sentry and picked up ingredients. the three boxes of chex cereal all had different recipes for chex cereal snacks. fred trying to determine which box – the rice, the corn, or the wheat – holds the recipe we were looking for.


-bkh

tuesday 09.22.09

i cooked again! roasted vegetables and roasted potatoes and baked mediterranean encrusted salmon. muuuuch better than the dolmas of yesterday.


-bkh

monday 09.21.09

back to madison i am. a day full of emails at the medical foundation. lucky for this gal, deniz took me out for lunch since my food cabinet was everything but full. swung by the store and got back in the kitchen right away after work. after eating out essentially everyday for a month, i was itching to be cooking again. and good thing i had a few editions of vegetarian times and eating well waiting for me when i got back. my veggie wraps turned out not so good, but whatever. turns out i don’t like store-bought dolmas. lesson learned.


-bkh

sunday 09.20.09

on the road. back to madison. just a traveling fool, i suppose. i’d like to know when it started getting dark again at 7:30? what a fine welcome back from europe! humph.


-bkh

saturday 09.19.09

brenda and tom day!! the day brenda too became a BKH, too. a good day. a great day. at the reception with some of my best gal pals and their dates. after a day full of brochures, bubbles, vows, bubbly, buses, photos, and arbor mist (how’d that get there?) we are sitting and relaxing at ‘the fun table’. a status that was challenged by ‘the old person’ (read: parents) table. i don’t know who ended up winning, but all i can say is someone from our table is dating the girl that face-planted in the middle of the dance floor.


-bkh

thursday 09.18.09

brenda and tom’s wedding rehearsal! groomsman dinner on the patio with the very best gals from high school. ash and her man-friend (not her man-mate) at the dinner table. they have been dating for a while, which is apparent by ryan’s clear dismissal of whatever ash is saying while he’s eating his champps dinner. these are good people.


-bkh

thursday 09.17.09

back on solid ground. back in maple grove at the home i spent the better half of high school in. sitting out on the patio with my pa and sis – ma and bro are on the other side. drinking some drinks and talking some talks. since meg has not yet fled to her bedroom to sing and dance, i can only suppose we are talking about her birthday (which isn't until february, but that doesn't matter to her) or corbin bleu, and she is not yet bored with us.


-bkh

wednesday 09.16.09

two 7:30s! TWO! that’s never happened before. as awesome as TWO 7:30s is, it is a bit bittersweet, too, because that means we are flying through time zones. flying through time zones back to the states. and away from europe. and away from vacation.

on the plane rome – detroit. two? three? (free) bottles of wine in. already enjoyed ‘forest gump’ – which was odd to have being played on the plane because we were quoting it was lacklan just days before – and moved my enjoyment on to ‘the hangover’. funny, but as per usual, not living up to the hype. the only movie that has ever lived up to the hype has been ‘mean girls’.

flight detroit – minneapolis. catching up in the journal. i went through one whole moleskine journal in the past month. tis the result of seeing, thinking, and feeling a lot i suppose.


-bkh

tuesday 09.15.09

playing some cards. last day in europe. hanging out with ryan and a couple of G&Ts in the rome hostel bar. we’ve played a lot of cards this trip. but really the only game we know is golf. so we’re playing golf. i probably kept the four of diamonds, since judging from the discard pile, it looks to be pretty early in the game. and a four is good early in the game. the table was real sticky, not good for cards. ryan had to play his cards on top of his little journal.

-bkh

monday 09.14.09

at the hostel bar in rome. drinking some G&Ts with ryan, writing in our journals. we’ve been trying and trying to find a mixed drink that costs less than an arm and a leg (read: less than 7-9 euro) and we succeeded in the hostel bar. four euro for a strong ass drink. hallelujah.


-bkh

sunday 09.13.09

at the grocery store in rome with ryan, our roommates niki and bizy, and lachlan. picking up some pasta, pesto, veggies, and a baguette to cook up for dinner in the hostel kitchen. nothing, really, is as sweet in life as finding such excellent people (‘mates’) in europe to cook with and enjoy a good meal.


-bkh

saturday 09.12.09

washing some grapes – that i bought at the market in the a.m. in genoa – in the hostel bathroom in rome. rome! train stopped a in rome a little after 6pm, got all checked in, and met our friendly grape-loving roommates niki and bizy. the rest of the eve was chatting and drinking with them and lachlan, who had found us from his hostel around the corner.


-bkh

friday 09.11.09

on the train. riding the 1.5 hours back to our hostel in genoa from the full day hike at the cinque terre. and what a day! the hike was 4-5 hours of hiking through five fishing villages on the coast of Italy beautiful beautiful. and tiring. i swear to you this is the one place on earth that defies gravity and is an uphill hike both ways. ryan popped in the ear buds and nodded off; i quickly followed suit sans headphones.


-bkh

thursday 09.10.09

genoa, italia. the birthplace of christopher columbus. and pesto. doing a solo self-guided walking tour of the town. on ‘via garibaloli’ – a historic street in the city. littered with old architecture. beautiful. there are zippy moped/little bikes everywhere, such as the ones i imagine the couple walking towards me are headed to.


-bkh

wednesday 09.09.09

hanging out in the courtyard in the hostel in nice. with ryan and our belgian roommate sam. next to me is lachlan. polishing off some vino, beer, and pringles before heading to the store to pick up some groceries. our culinary expert friend sam offered to whip up a dinner to make the rest of the hostel drool in envy. i regretted eating all those pringles once the impossibly delicious dinner was served. our australian friend advised i do as he was doing and choose to ignore it. ok.


-bkh

tuesday 09.08.09

making some dinner in the hostel in nice with roommate lachlan. he was our roommate at the hostel in paris, and became our roommate at the hostel in nice. cutting up some veggies for a pasta stir-fry after spending the day on the beach. hostels with a kitchen are quickly becoming one of my favorite things. after day upon day of eating out at restaurants three meals a day, nothing quite beats cooking a fresh meal.

-bkh

monday 09.07.09

walking up the street in montmartre (the artists' district) in paris. from our hostel to dinner up by sacre coeur at la maison rose – the pink house – a favorite of vincent van gogh back in the days of vincent van gogh. we walked past it on our guided tour of montmartre, and i had my eyes on the nutella crepes. however many days in paris, and i hadn’t really had any traditional french food (do nutella crepes count as ‘traditional french food’?) they were all i had dreamed.


-bkh

sunday 09.06.09

transferring metro lines in paris. walking from the 8 line to the 12 line underground at the metro. a guy was playing guitar along the way. our australian roommate, lachlan, tells me they’re called ‘buskers’ in australia. ok. busker, street performer, whatever – he was good.


-bkh

saturday 09.05.09

hanging out on the computer at the hostel in paris. trying as hard as possible to figure out the best way to get to cinque terre. through nice? milan? by bus? train? car hire? definitely not plane. did you know keyboards over in euro are messed up with keys all moved around in wrong places? makes it quite difficult to plan trips.


-bkh

friday 09.04.09

oh bus. bus ride amsterdam to paris by way of brussels. oh long bus ride. unfortunately europe by bus, at this point, looks much like midwestern united states by bus. only i swear to you they must drive stick shift buses in europe.


-bkh

thursday 09.03.09

having some drinks by a canal in amsterdam. off a bit from the main red light district area, hanging out by the bar out walking tour tour guide took us for ‘traditional dutch food’ the other day. across the canal behind ryan you can see the anne frank huis and museum. it is just over the black railing. odd to think that’s the door the family walk into and out of hiding, isn’t it?

-bkh

wednesday 09.02.09

having some price cookies or something. not really sure what they are, since it was all written in danish. but they tasted deliciously similar to e.l. fudge cookies. and they paired really well with the red wine jenny and i drank on the floor of the hostel in amsterdam while we played some ds (double solitaire).

-bkh

tuesday 09.01.09

making some dinner at the hostel in amsterdam. no kitchen here, so while my traveling mates ryan, jenny, chris, michael, and bill murray opted for two lunches, i just went for one. which means a cheese and avocado sandwich for this gal. using the top of jen and my lockers as a cutting board. the dinner proved to be not enough later on during our ultimate party amsterdam pub crawl or whatever. so ryan, jenny, and i made a detour for pizza.

-bkh

monday 08.31.09

flight to amsterdam! flight attendants just explaining the safety instructions pre-take off. i should know this by now. this is the… 1 – minneapolis to atlanta, 2 – atlanta to london, 3 – london to dublin, 4 – dublin to copenhagen, 5 – copenhagen to amsterdam … fifth flight in less than two weeks. but i’m not so good of a listener to safety instructions i guess.


-bkh

sunday 08.30.09

big day out in copenhagen. after over-celebrating jenny and jacob’s new place, we managed to not leave it until 5:30. went into tivoli – a big amusement park smack dab in the middle of downtown. having some greasy fair food. please notice the charming little gal over jen’s shoulder.


-bkh

saturday 08.29.09

in jenny and jacob's copenhagen kictchen. preparing for their housewarming party. ryan is cutting some bread for the pesto i just made. and jenny is clearly an angel. a taco dip-making angel.


-bkh

friday 08.28.09

just waking up from a nap in jenny & jacob’s apartment after a day of biking and walking. jenny’s doing a bit of research on hostels for us to stay at in amsterdam. that’s how this trip seems to be go – preparing for the next city while still enjoying the current city.


-bkh

thursday 08.27.09

oh, just hanging out in front of pussy galore’s flying circus. just a typical copenhagen bar, ya know. jacob (the viking dane) didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with the name of the bar. the americans disagreed. language barrier? having some coffees and beers. the evenings can get a bit chilly in copenhagen, so the restaurants provide fleece blankets on most chairs outside so people can still eat on the patios. how thoughtful. i guess danes love eating outside. kindred spirits.


-bkh

wednesday 08.26.09

with jen jen! with jen jen! ryan and i landed in copenhagen early afternoon and were met by jenny & jacob. at a park just a few blocks from their place. cooking some dinner on the grill, having some wine and beer, the guys tossing around the (american) football, the gals catching up. perfect perfect perfect.


-bkh

tuesday 08.25.09

sitting on the window ledge in the hostel in dublin. a little down time after a day of hiking along the coast in howth, ireland. writing postcards and packages to alli, bree, marissa & nina, schryver, and so on and so forth. drinks are expensive in dublin (and i’m a broke backpacker), so enjoying a store-bought cider beer in the room is always encouraged. one thing i’ve noticed here is cider beer is much more common and popular than in the states. i wonder if its delicious abundance will be seen across europe.


-bkh

monday 08.24.09

in the hostel. relaxing after a full day of biking, pubs, walking, and whiskey. spent the past 30-45 minutes chatting with our french roommates in the hostel (apparently you don't rely on facebook friendship as a gauge of when to transition from addressing a person as 'vous' to 'tu', fyi). in a room of six people in a hostel means you can meet a variety of people. like our other roommate we met this morning who speaks seven languages. and the other (seventeen year old) who spent his time sneaking into gay bars and asking for free pints of guiniess. excellent people. excellent conversation.


-bkh

sunday 08.23.09

walking the streets of dublin. unlike london, dublin is very walkable. no need for a bus or train around the city. coming from a delicious early evening at the guiniess brewery and heading back (with a pub stop or two) to the hostel. the walk was maybe twenty-five minutes, and we’re been told it’s the farthest walk in dublin. perfect.


-bkh