Talking of wadder...
I asked for a glass of water last night. One duly appeared, and I picked it up and sipped it. It was warm and lacking in ice. Yeuk!! Obviously I had slipped up by asking for water not wadder. I guess this triggered the "she asked for water - she must be British - British people don't put ice in their drinks - they mustn't like it cold - if I give her warm water she'll be delighted" train of thought.
Friday, 29 August 2008
Can I have some iced wadder? and hold the wadder...
Paul asked if we wanted to go out for dinner last night. All the family are heading back to the UK on Friday after enjoying 5 weeks of summer over here, and obviously the kids wanted to spend some quality time with their favourite soft touch babysitter before they went home. We arrived in Chadwicks shortly before they did. I first realised that they were there when a little pair of arms wrapped round me and a little head buried into my back.
"Can I sit beside you?" said Josh.
"Can I sit beside you?" said Katie
Oh oh, we're heading for an argument I thought. I only have two sides! Beth was playing it cool though, being much too grown up to get involved in an argument over who got to sit where.
She's not too grown up to get involved in the game of dropping ice down Stephen's back though! I think its great. All three of them want to give me kisses, cuddles, tell me secrets and play noughts and crosses...and all they want to do to Stephen is give him High 5's as hard as they possibly can and drop ice down his back. Beth got him a cracker - straight down the back of the shirt into the back of the jeans!!
As parents worldwide will testify, this is common behaviour in their children when in proximity to Stephen! I remember a couple of years ago we were at a BBQ and Stephen had 4 kids chasing him round the garden with handfuls of ice. It was nasty when they caught him...he had 3 children hanging off his shorts which began the inexorable slide downwards (we certainly saw more of him that we wanted to!) and the 4th was shovelling handfuls of ice anywhere they could!
Then there was the Close BBQ when I had left him there as I had wilting plants to get into the garden. I could hear distant shrieking and laughter...1/2 hour later he appeared - totally soaked from head to foot as he'd had a water fight with the kids!!
The comical sight of the evening was probably me being towed along the street by Beth and Katie, running ahead so we could hide round the corner and surprise they others. I'm built for comfort, not for speed and was also trying to keep my handbag from coming crashing off my shoulder and knocking Katie out. I was having to do this solely by using the power of positive thought as I had a small hand in both of mine!
"Can I sit beside you?" said Josh.
"Can I sit beside you?" said Katie
Oh oh, we're heading for an argument I thought. I only have two sides! Beth was playing it cool though, being much too grown up to get involved in an argument over who got to sit where.
She's not too grown up to get involved in the game of dropping ice down Stephen's back though! I think its great. All three of them want to give me kisses, cuddles, tell me secrets and play noughts and crosses...and all they want to do to Stephen is give him High 5's as hard as they possibly can and drop ice down his back. Beth got him a cracker - straight down the back of the shirt into the back of the jeans!!
As parents worldwide will testify, this is common behaviour in their children when in proximity to Stephen! I remember a couple of years ago we were at a BBQ and Stephen had 4 kids chasing him round the garden with handfuls of ice. It was nasty when they caught him...he had 3 children hanging off his shorts which began the inexorable slide downwards (we certainly saw more of him that we wanted to!) and the 4th was shovelling handfuls of ice anywhere they could!
Then there was the Close BBQ when I had left him there as I had wilting plants to get into the garden. I could hear distant shrieking and laughter...1/2 hour later he appeared - totally soaked from head to foot as he'd had a water fight with the kids!!
The comical sight of the evening was probably me being towed along the street by Beth and Katie, running ahead so we could hide round the corner and surprise they others. I'm built for comfort, not for speed and was also trying to keep my handbag from coming crashing off my shoulder and knocking Katie out. I was having to do this solely by using the power of positive thought as I had a small hand in both of mine!
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Would Sir like to taste the wine?
Stephen is just back from a customer dinner. One of the UK employees was hosting (and picking up the tab) and he made a slight error of judgement. He asked the North America employee (and multi-multi-millionaire) to order the wine....
Poor Lex was a little bemused when the bill arrived. He thought that the restaurant might have miscalculated...but no. On closer inspection (with reading glasses on) he realised that the wine had cost $406. For one bottle!! Stephen said "but it was a 1 litre bottle"... I didn't realise that they sold Chateau Lafite by the litre...does that make it Chateauneufdecrap?
Poor Lex was a little bemused when the bill arrived. He thought that the restaurant might have miscalculated...but no. On closer inspection (with reading glasses on) he realised that the wine had cost $406. For one bottle!! Stephen said "but it was a 1 litre bottle"... I didn't realise that they sold Chateau Lafite by the litre...does that make it Chateauneufdecrap?
Farewell to Pat & Jude
Pat and Jude are the latest Brits to head back to Blighty. They fly home on Thursday and are going to be missed by everyone in the office. We had their leaving lunch today, and a presentation (with ice cream cake) in the office just after.
The past couple of days leading up to this haven't been entirely incident and irritation free. I picked up a really nice photographic print at the Torpedo Factory whilst we were out and about on Saturday and dropped it in for framing at the store across from the office yesterday afternoon. They wanted to charge me a fortune for framing it, so I made some "oh, crikey that's expensive" noises, thrust the twins at the guy behind the desk and got a 25% discount. I knew the twins were good for something!! He promised faithfully to have it ready for first thing this morning...he lied! I wandered over about 10am and it wasn't ready. Time to panic? Not quite. I was told to come back in 20 minutes and it would be ready. Thankfully this time it was!
Lunch was no less fraught. We had agreed to go to the Thai restaurant for lunch, but I was faced with a mini-rebellion from the finance end of the office. It basically boiled down to Ted's or they wouldn't come as they didn't like Thai.... Rather than have 1/4 of the office not attend I spoke to Pat about changing the venue (but, of course didn't say why). As it turned out he was happy to go to Ted's, but it still rankled with me rather... If its not your party, surely you don't dictate... you turn up, eat the food (even if you don't like it), and make conversation... I'm sure they didn't think of it that way, more likely they felt they were just stating a preference as to venue.
Joni phoned Ted's and made a reservation. We had to go at 11:45 (which is practically breakfast) in order for them to accommodate us. We duly turned up just before the allotted time, and I went to speak to the hostess only to be told that they didn't have a reservation. When I told her that we had made one with the manager that morning, she told me that we couldn't have as they didn't take reservations for the same day.
Oh deary dear. This was not good. For her. She had just pushed me firmly over the edge from being mildly irritated to thoroughly pissed off. Apparently people could tell that I wasn't happy when I pulled myself up to my full 5 feet and squared my shoulders. She was a little twig. I reckon that I could easily have taken her... "Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the Smackdown. Tonight's main event, by way of 3 falls or a submission..." Kickass Kerry was narked.... The manager appeared around this time (probably alerted by the gurgling noise coming from his hostess as I wrapped my hands around her throat) and began to sort it out. But as the hostess had given away our grouping of tables, the best they could do was 3 tables near one another.... Oh deary, deary dear...
As it turned out the tables were fine. Not great. But fine. We then had to deal with the girls sitting on one table, and the boys on the other...but sometimes you have to let things ride! I let it go.
Jude and I had a really nice chat anyway. Pat and Jude have been rushing around trying to see all the things that they hadn't managed to see during their time here. Yesterday was Mt Vernon. Today Jude was off to hit the shops (and empty them) in a last spending spree. There was a pair of shoes she was particularly coveting...that's my girl! When I leave here it will be with a credit card in one hand and a pair of Manolos in the other...
Pat and Jude
With their tasteful leaving gift (well I chose it - I would say that!)
The past couple of days leading up to this haven't been entirely incident and irritation free. I picked up a really nice photographic print at the Torpedo Factory whilst we were out and about on Saturday and dropped it in for framing at the store across from the office yesterday afternoon. They wanted to charge me a fortune for framing it, so I made some "oh, crikey that's expensive" noises, thrust the twins at the guy behind the desk and got a 25% discount. I knew the twins were good for something!! He promised faithfully to have it ready for first thing this morning...he lied! I wandered over about 10am and it wasn't ready. Time to panic? Not quite. I was told to come back in 20 minutes and it would be ready. Thankfully this time it was!
Lunch was no less fraught. We had agreed to go to the Thai restaurant for lunch, but I was faced with a mini-rebellion from the finance end of the office. It basically boiled down to Ted's or they wouldn't come as they didn't like Thai.... Rather than have 1/4 of the office not attend I spoke to Pat about changing the venue (but, of course didn't say why). As it turned out he was happy to go to Ted's, but it still rankled with me rather... If its not your party, surely you don't dictate... you turn up, eat the food (even if you don't like it), and make conversation... I'm sure they didn't think of it that way, more likely they felt they were just stating a preference as to venue.
Joni phoned Ted's and made a reservation. We had to go at 11:45 (which is practically breakfast) in order for them to accommodate us. We duly turned up just before the allotted time, and I went to speak to the hostess only to be told that they didn't have a reservation. When I told her that we had made one with the manager that morning, she told me that we couldn't have as they didn't take reservations for the same day.
Oh deary dear. This was not good. For her. She had just pushed me firmly over the edge from being mildly irritated to thoroughly pissed off. Apparently people could tell that I wasn't happy when I pulled myself up to my full 5 feet and squared my shoulders. She was a little twig. I reckon that I could easily have taken her... "Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the Smackdown. Tonight's main event, by way of 3 falls or a submission..." Kickass Kerry was narked.... The manager appeared around this time (probably alerted by the gurgling noise coming from his hostess as I wrapped my hands around her throat) and began to sort it out. But as the hostess had given away our grouping of tables, the best they could do was 3 tables near one another.... Oh deary, deary dear...
As it turned out the tables were fine. Not great. But fine. We then had to deal with the girls sitting on one table, and the boys on the other...but sometimes you have to let things ride! I let it go.
Jude and I had a really nice chat anyway. Pat and Jude have been rushing around trying to see all the things that they hadn't managed to see during their time here. Yesterday was Mt Vernon. Today Jude was off to hit the shops (and empty them) in a last spending spree. There was a pair of shoes she was particularly coveting...that's my girl! When I leave here it will be with a credit card in one hand and a pair of Manolos in the other...
Pat and Jude
Jude and I pausing for breath
With their tasteful leaving gift (well I chose it - I would say that!)
Sunday, 24 August 2008
mmmmm...ice cream
Kristen suggested brunch this morning, and it seemed a damn fine idea to everyone! We walked along towards King as it was a gorgeous morning, warm, sunny and not terribly humid. Perfect weather! We were about 3 blocks from the house when Stephen first spotted the demo taking place ahead of us. We saw the Mark Warner campaign banners as we got closer. As they were standing outside his house we figured that they were either going to set fire to them, or were friendly. They were friendly! They gave a loud hurrah and then quickly dispersed. I hope the Senatorial candidate is an early riser or it might become quite annoying to be woken at 9:45 each Sunday by a rousing cheer!!
We had brunch in Chadwicks - our first time there. It was very good! It was Paul who spotted that they did a bottle of champagne for $9. Good lad! We didn't indulge in a bottle, but Stephen and I did indulge in a bucket of mimosa for a whole $3 each. Why haven't we been here for brunch before?? The food was pretty good too!
We hooked up with Morag and Simon just after brunch. They work in the same place that Paul is going to be starting in shortly, so we thought they might be able to answer some questions that Paul had, and offer further suggestions as to areas to look for accommodation. After a chat Paul and Kristen headed off to the metro, DC bound and we headed off with Morag, Simon and the girls.
Stephen and Simon were swinging Lizzie between them and Alison wanted in on the fun! Lizzie had other ideas though and reclaimed her spot pretty quickly. Alison was slightly put out that she had only had a couple of swings when Lizzie was getting loads, so Morag and I stepped up. We (wo)manfully swung her all the way across the marina towards the food court. It took a little more effort on her part too as she had to pick her feet up as we couldn't swing her as high as daddy and uncle Stephen, but we did alright! Once we got inside they were clamouring for Stephen to lift them up, high in the air. He is their own personal amusement park!
After they had all eaten we walked along through the park beside the marina. The girls and Stephen and Simon went off to walk along the rocks and Morag and I had a lovely shady spot to watch them from. It was lovely, sitting in the shade watching the boats pootle up and down the river. Alison was taking photos with Stephens supervision, and she was doing pretty well! She certainly seems to have an eye for it. A budding Annie Liebovitz in the making!
It was getting pretty hot and Ben & Jerry's was singing its siren song. Everyone was sorted out with ice cream and sorbets when disaster struck. Alison was climbing onto a stool when her sorbet fell out of the cone and plopped onto the floor. Disaster! There were lots of tears.... B&J's were good though (I'm sure this happens all the time!) and gave her a new sorbet with extra sprinkles which soon stopped the tears. Lizzie was having a grand time with her chocolate ice cream. She was getting stuck in with gusto!! Not only to hers, but also to her dad's when she fancied a change, then her mom's, then to Stephen's. It was obviously a very good idea to sample all the flavours to make sure that hers was definitely the best! She was almost as messy as Stephen was at the end of the day - he'd managed to spill coffee down his t-shirt earlier. He blames the lids on the cups, but everyone else somehow manages to contain the coffee to either the cup or their mouth....
We walked back home taking some snaps as we went. It really was a lovely day!
Paul and Kristen are now on their way home to NYC, complete with a huge number of apartment details. I think there were a couple of possibilities, so we'll wait and see what they decide in due course. We've volunteered to go see anything that comes up.
I was laughing at something that Paul said when we were waiting on Stephen.... Stephen has spent all weekend commenting to me on how much Paul looks like his dad Jim (and he really does!), so I had to smile when Paul told me that he thought that Stephen looked like Jim! Apparently he and Kristen had got split up coming off the metro and ended up leaving the station by two different exits. She had then phoned Paul and said "there's a guy over there who looks like your dad. Is that going to be him?"
Stephen plus coffee stain. Taken by Alison.
Alison looking very angelic
Stephen and his fan club
Me next!!!
Lizzie enjoying her ice cream
Kristen and PaulOld Town Photos
Lee Street 
The Town Hall bedecked in the stars and stripes 
Town Hall and Market Square
The fountain in Market Square 
The Waterfront near the Marina
Looking towards the Potomac
Lee Street
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Sleepy, grumpy...
I've just been to Target (I was getting Target-withdrawal as I've not been for weeks!) and bought new pillows. I'm not a great sleeper and buy quite a few pillows in search of the perfect pillow combination. My last ones were pretty good, but suddenly they began to feel as though they were stuffed with rocks. It was time for new ones.
This was really brought home the other night as I had gone to bed, read until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, switched out my light and immediately fallen asleep. I woke up feeling fairly awake. It was still dark though. I've trained myself to check the clock when I wake during the night, as I can lie there for ages thinking "the alarm is going to go off any second" and then find its only 4am. I checked the clock. It was 11:35pm. I had been asleep for a whole...40 minutes!!! I was now awake, it was still the same day as I had gone to bed, and I couldn't find a comfy position at all. No matter how much I pummeled the pillows they still felt like rocks!!
Its probably as well that Stephen wasn't here. I would only have got grumpy with him...he can sleep through anything and there is nothing more frustrating when you're lying awake in the middle of the night than the contented gentle snoring of someone deep in the land of Nod!
This was really brought home the other night as I had gone to bed, read until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, switched out my light and immediately fallen asleep. I woke up feeling fairly awake. It was still dark though. I've trained myself to check the clock when I wake during the night, as I can lie there for ages thinking "the alarm is going to go off any second" and then find its only 4am. I checked the clock. It was 11:35pm. I had been asleep for a whole...40 minutes!!! I was now awake, it was still the same day as I had gone to bed, and I couldn't find a comfy position at all. No matter how much I pummeled the pillows they still felt like rocks!!
Its probably as well that Stephen wasn't here. I would only have got grumpy with him...he can sleep through anything and there is nothing more frustrating when you're lying awake in the middle of the night than the contented gentle snoring of someone deep in the land of Nod!
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