7 - the time at which I’ve been waking up every morning.  That doesn’t mean I get out of bed - I usually just take my thyroid pill and try to fall back asleep.  And it’s not from my alarm - my body just wakes up then

6 - the number of dollars I spent this morning at the flea market on fresh produce. Apples, Red potatoes, garlic, and butternut squash

20 - the number of minutes I spent outside raking leaves.  I got tired of it quickly!

3 - the number of mini wine bottles I scored from Steph & Mike’s wedding because two were forgotten in my car by other people

4 - the number of scarves I’ve knitted so far for the Nancy Project.  A fundraiser we’re doing for the library.

7 - the months pregnant that Stephanie is (who got married last night).  I found out she was pregnant on Friday!  I’m a bad friend, and haven’t seen her in ages. (she moved from 10 minutes away, to 45 minutes away)

6 - the number, in hours, I spend on Skype with Barny today.  That included time when I was knitting, doing things around the house, or watching TV with my parents.  I’ve been awake for 14 hours so far.

10 - the number of old magazines I gave away using FreeCycle.  I LOVE when people “want” things, and I have the things they need!

400 - the number on the back of my dad’s new Dodge 400 Convertible that I got to ride around in today - with the top DOWN!

10 - the time at which I am going up to bed.  It is nice and warm up there under the many covers.  G’Night!

Things I should have done today:

-Bake pumpkin bread
-Return the incredibly large amount of soda cans to the redemption center
-Clean my room
-Put away my clean clothes
-Call my insurance company about my dental coverage
-Ordered campaign signs
-Gone to the salvation army and to consignments shops just to look around, and get out of the house

Things I actually did today:

- stayed in bed until noonish.  I was awake, and had gone downstairs to eat breakfast at 9, but then went back upstairs in bed because it was very cold downstairs.  So I sat in bed, chatted on Skype with Barny, and read a book

- Ran three miles

- Showered, ate lunch, got dressed

- Drove up to the Hospice House, and went to visit a patient with Lynne (at 4pm)

- Had dinner with the nurses at the HH, and then drove over to Nashua to the Memorial Service for all of the patients who died from March 2009 - August 2009.

-Drove home, and got very lost.  Luckily, my iPhone has GPS.

That’s what I get for staying in bed until noon.

Tomorrow is another full day at the HH.  Perhaps on Saturday I’ll be able to chisel down my to-do list.

Friday morning, we woke up in Danvers, and the four of us went out to breakfast in Salem, MA.  We all had delicious, copious amounts of food and drink.  It was a beautiful fall day, with the leaves changing and a brisk breeze.  I had never been to Salem before, so we walked a bit of the tourist walk (we had a map, thanks to the diner we ate at).

Barny was able to get some gifts for his friends back home, and I even picked up a Christmas present for my mom!

We went to an amazing book store, that was organized, but in a very haphazard way.  I felt as if the books would crush me if they fell.

We went and saw the statue of Samantha from Bewitched - Salem is the place where the Witch trials took place.

Maria, Kevin, and I trying to figure out what to do next!

Kevin went to work, and Maria, Barny and I went to get ice cream and to the batting cages!

Barny was amazed at how large his “kiddie” sized ice cream was.  (it’s the smallest they had!)

We got to visit the cows that made the milk for the ice cream!  (this one is just a baby, though).

We all took a shot at the batting cages.  Barny had never swung a bat in his life!  But he did pretty great.  He was good at line drives, which is the kind of shot that’s good!  Mine were mostly pop ups.

We left Friday night around 6pm, because we had to get to the Fitchburg High Football Game!  Barny had never seen an American football game, so we wanted to go to one!  Plus, he was able to see the cheerleaders!

After the game, we went over to have some beer and wine at Trevor’s.  My mom and dad brought over raspberry pie, and Trevor tried to fix Barny’s old camera.

Saturday, Barny and I drove down to West Boylston and saw the Time Traveler’s Wife.  Saturday was the one crappy rainy British day we had.  It really made Barny feel like home!  Luckily, it wasn’t too chilly.

We went to Il Ricordi on the way back and picked up delicious Italian food.  For Fitchburg peeps - if you’ve never been there, it’s the most delicious Italian food in the area.  We had loads of fun driving around together.

On Monday, Barny’s last day, he packed his bags, and I took him down to City Hall to say goodbye to my dad and Trevor.  We had hot dogs for lunch down at City Hall (Barny had to have one American hot dog!).  Then to the airport!  Where Barny left, but we were pretty good about not having a tearful goodbye.

But I think our GPS is broken, because it kept taking me through Sommerville to get to Logan Airport.   And that just ain’t right.

We had a great time.  I think I’m going over to England to visit Barny and Megan at Christmas time.  I think Barny is taking me to Devon to see his mom, and to Wales to see his dad.

Barny had never been to American before, so to introduce him to it - we did loads of fun stuff!

People keep asking me what sorts of things we did - so I’m just going to give a day by day list.

Friday Sept 18 - picked him up at the airport, and we stopped at Trader Joe’s where we bought nine bottles of wine.  Eek!

Then, we drove back to Leominster and picked up a burrito from Tory’s.  Went home, ate, and went to bed around 9ish.  It was 2am his time - and I’d been going to bed early since I’ve been waking up early for work.

Saturday was going to be a rest day, but Barny was anxious to get out and about.  We went to Concord, MA for a picnic lunch, and then went to the deCordova sculpture park in Lexington.

Then we went to Jenny’s house in New Hampshire for a cookout and camp fire!  It was a lot of fun - and we sat outside staying warm by the fire.  Barny and I kept switching places so our sides would take turns being warm.

Sunday we left for Lake Winnipesaukee where our friend Bennie has a home in Wolfeboro.

We got there about 4pm, because Barny and I have a history of getting late starts.   We immediately went for a walk with Bennie downtown and to see the lake.  And we got ice cream!

Bennie and I were dressed in a matching nautical theme.

Back at the house, Bennie made us dinner while Barny and I watched How I Met Your Mother (Robin and Barney!!)

Monday morning, Barny woke up super early and wanted to walk downtown to get coffee.  I was exhausted (lazy), and decided to stay in bed and sleep more. This would mark the first and only time Barny was out of bed before me.  Later, after having delicious bagels for breakfast, we packed up lunch and headed down to the beach.  It was gorgeous out, and even warm enough to go in the water.

Monday night we went out for a very nice Mexican dinner, and then went home and watched Lars and the Real Girl.

Tuesday morning we lounged around, did laundry, and headed back home after lunch. Tuesday was the Fitchburg primary election, so I had to go home and vote.  Then, at 7:30, I had seminar at the college.  My dad took Barny out to the Boulder for a beer.  There, they watched the election results live, where I got 7th place out of 11.  At 10, I met them at Destare where Barny met Niles!

Wednesday morning Barny and I went to the Moran Square Diner for breakfast.  It was delicious.  Then we headed into Boston for a day of exploring.  Trevor emailed me a list of things to do while there.  While in Downtown Crossing, we ran into Nora Brown and she brought us to an amazing restaurant.  I got a piece of pizza the size of bigger than my head for only $2.86.

Barny’s was a bit smaller than mine, but he finished what I couldn’t eat of mine.

We did a bit of shopping, wandering around, and tried (and failed) to do the Freedom Trail (Barny and I are awful organized tourists.  But we have fun.).

The State House.  The tiny bit of the Freedom Trail we managed.

In Boston Garden.

We went to the MIT museum where we saw some WILD stuff!  Barny took some amazing photographs.

For dinner, Barny and I went to Elephant & Castle, a British pub chain.  It was absolutely amazing.  The food was fabulous (especially the sweet potato fries and dipping sauce), and the service was great.  Plus, I had bought a gift certificate for $25 on Restaurant.com for $1!!!!  I recommend buying a certificate of your own (they’re always on sale - right now they’re 80% off!), and going if you’re in the area.  It’s right in Downtown Crossing.

At Downtown Crossing, I tried on a pair of four inch heels at Marshalls.  I made Barny take a picture of us standing together.  I’m amazed at how much taller he is than me even with these heels on (he’s 6′2″, I’m 5′5″).  They were so tall, I couldn’t properly walk in them.

Wednesday night was Sean Daley’s Open Mic Night at Hooligans.  Barny went on at midnight, and it was awesome.  Niles was there with his friend Diane, and Bria came, too.

Thursday we slept in late (having gone to bed at 2am).  Then we went to the Salvation Army where Barny stocked up on awesome thrift store finds.  I also got a cute denim Gap skirt to wear in the winter with boots and leggings.  Then I cut Barny’s hair (cause that’s one of my hobbies).

Thursday night, we went to another open mic night, this time at the Rabbit Hole.  My friend Bria organizes one there, and Barny played again.  This time, I got the whole set recorded on video, and Bria recorded the sound on her laptop.  When I get those up and running, I’ll post them. Mom and dad even showed up since they missed Barny at Hooligans (bottom left of photo).

Immediately after the open mic, we drove to Danvers, MA to visit Maria.  We stayed up until 2am (again) and played Wii tennis, where everyone avoided me, and made fun of the way I swung the remote (as if I was an insane person swatting away a bee).  I picked Barny up to show off my super-human strength.  He thought it was crazy, but I showed him by doing squats with him on my back.

We also cooked s’mores, which Barny had never had. They were delicious, and cooked properly over an open flame.

We drank wine, too.

And played with Maria’s cat, Betty.

Barny and I stayed over Maria and Kevin’s, and continued to have adventures.

To be continued. . .

I hang my head in shame because it’s been too long since I’ve blogged.

I’ve been very busy…. England, and then I was in Ohio for a week helping Dylan move to Cincinnati. And then I came home on a Monday and started my internship the very next day.

I’ve been at my internship for two whole weeks already.  So far, it’s been very good, and I enjoy it a lot.

Barny comes to visit on Friday!

Right now, I’m going to sit outside cause it’s 80 degrees out and I have nothing to do until 4:45!

I’ll try to write more later.  But things are good.

Things in England are going very well. I’ve been doing a lot of cycling and walking, which is great.  So far Megan and I have only gone running once, but here’s hoping for tomorrow morning!  We’ve been very busy, so I haven’t had time to write in my blog every day.  Plus, it seems like we’ve been staying up very late to do things (I think I was up until 1ish or 2ish three nights in a row!).

One night (I have no idea which night…. Friday, I think) we went out for Sushi at Zen.  It was fantastic.  Megan and Mac thought I was silly for taking pictures.

Saturday Megan and I went to an Indian Mela Festival downtown.  We both had delicious food, but mine was WAY too spicy.  I can see through time.  We also went to a mini health fair where we had our BMI, Blood Glucose, and Blood pressure taken (mine were all excellent - Megan is close to death).

After the fair, we had to run over to meet some of Megan’s work friends.  They had free tickets to the Southampton Saints football (soccer) game versus the Amsterdam Ajax.  It was the first time Megan had ever been - and talking with her friends, she seems to be the first to go!  Oddly enough, back home I have a scarf for the Ajax that my friends Sean and Anniek from Amsterdam gave me.  Good thing I didn’t have it with me.

I really like how the seats spell out “Saints.”

Megan, her co-worker Hannah, and Hannah’s husband, Dave.

At the game, they had security AND police officers protecting the fans of the other team.

Megan and I were both very surprised that fans weren’t allowed to drink on the field.  They had to drink their alcohol in the inside, where they bought it.  This is very weird for us, because at baseball games, they even SELL beer on the field.  There also were no vendors shouting “Hotdogs here!  Get your hotdogs!” or anything like that.

Sunday, Megan and I volunteered at the Big Lunch.  “Basically, it’s a party in your street, in everyone’s street. On 19th July we’re asking the people of Britain to stop what they’re doing and sit down to lunch together. Why? Well for lots of reasons really but mainly to put a smile back on Britain’s face.”  It was quite fun, and Megan and I met these two wonderful Muslim women.  Megan might tutor one of their four children, and we went to the other woman’s house for tea!  We were all talking about marriage, and sex, and she told us a lot about Muslim culture and religion that we didn’t know.  She was a Muslim woman, but was aware that in these days, her sons probably wouldn’t be able to wait until they were married to have sex.  She was very realistic.  It was a fantastic time, and we stayed and chatted at her house for two hours!

That night, we went to Hamptons where Megan’s friends were putting on Log Jam, which is a music and artistic improv night.  They bring all the instruments, markers, crayons, and paper, and everyone else can play music, and make art!  It was very fun, and a lot of her friends were there.

Barny drew this of Tom (he was wearing face paint), Megan (who looks Asian), and me.

Mac showed up a bit later wearing the Brew Fest shirt that I brought him.

Megan made this drawing for me.  It’s true!!!

It’s funny because even after I think that my busy week is over, I am still flooded with all of these images, and have to take time to update my blog.  I’m constantly busy.  Today is also the second farmer’s market!  Luckily, the weather is going to be fantastic.  Sunny, but not hot!

Sunday July 5th was the downtown criterium, which is probably the best Longsjo race for the city, because it’s so fun to be hanging around downtown.  Things were even more exciting because we knew someone in the race, and we had someone to cheer for!

Mike was kicking butt - he was in the break away pack, and during several laps, he was IN THE LEAD!!!  I don’t care that he didn’t get first in the race, because he was kicking ass for so long during the race. (Trevor and Larry said “but that’s not how it works” - but I don’t care.)

Dad had wanted some great pictures of cyclists in front of the Boulder, and I happened to get these two pictures of Mike and the Boulder!

I asked Ed, the director of the Longsjo, where the best place to be placed for pictures of the finish, and he set me up on the one side with the press photographers, on the wrong side of the roped off area! I got this great shot of Mike finishing, and my dad!

Mike finished in 6th place in the downtown criterium, and 12th place overall.  He was amazingly awesome, and made the race fun for so many of us who were cheering him on.  There was a family of four in front of us, mom, dad, and two little boys, and they heard us cheering him on.  The wife asked me his name, and she said “I think I just saw some movie about him!”  She had seen the documentary Blood, Sweat + Gears:  Racing Clean to the Tour de France.” Mike is featured in the film just as he qualifies for the Olympics.  The family in front of us starting cheering for him, too!  We also had a lot of family friends join us, and we were all cheering and very excited.  I had asked Mike in the morning what I should yell, and he said he would answer to “Mike”  “Meatball” and “Garmin,” so I switched between the three of them.  It was fantastic!!!

Trevor handed Mike a celebratory beer, and said “I had no idea how famous you were!”  After Trevor saw people shouting to Mike and asking him for his autograph.

Dad and Trevor having a fun time at the Boulder.

Mom, dad and Mike.  Mike gave us a signed jersey (that he raced in that weekend), and dad wanted to try it on.

It looked much better on me! My favorite part was the pockets.

I took over 200 photographs over the weekend, and we all had a great time.  The Longsjo Classic is definitely a lot more fun when you have someone to cheer on!

I’ve just discovered more pictures of this weekend that I need to post.  They are all great pictures, but it’s past 12:30, and  I haven’t been sleeping well lately.  Await for them tomorrow.

To celebrate the Fourth of July, we had some people over for a cookout.  We lit a fire, had s’mores, a bucket of margaritas, and had an egg race.  The egg race was Mike’s idea, and to make it more interesting, we had to carry a drink in our other hand.

Trevor and Dave going head to head!

Trevor passing it off to Bobby Lea, Mike’s partner in the Olympics.

Mike and Jason getting towards the end.

We even got Dylan outside to join us, so the teams would be even. Mom played too, but she’s hanging off to the left with her hood on.

Mike Friedman’s nickname is Meatball because he looks like a meatball while riding (or something).

The Fitchburg State Circuit Race on Friday went really well - except it kept pouring intermittently.  But I got some great pictures. Luckily, we were standing under a tree and didn’t get too wet.   I was able to take some great photographs.

Yesterday, after he and his father left for the Mount Wachusett race, I came home from the parade and saw our green and white cooler in the kitchen.  I opened it up, and all of his water bottles were in it.  I immediately called him and left a message: “Mike, did you forget the cooler?”  While debating with my dad on if I should bring it or not, Mike called back, and yes, he DID need the cooler.  His dad was about to leave to go get it, but I offered to drive it up.  I could get there in half the time, and the race was starting in just 15 minutes.

I ended up getting to the feed zone before Mike’s dad (he was stuck somewhere else around the course).  Bram (his dad) gave me instructions on how to feed him (which is holding out a water bottle or food for the cyclist to grab), and if the pro men ride by, I need to stand out for Mike to recognize me, and feed him.

I ended up feeding him about five times (they fed nine times), and it was very fun.  The very first time, I was very nervous and asking other feeders how to stand (Bram had said “at a right angle” and I didn’t know what that meant). I saw the black Ford with flashing lights, and that was my cue to get ready to feed.

The very first time, I had a bit of a panic attack.  My heart was racing, my fingers were numb, and I had to sit down.  After that, though, it was fun to see Mike up close, and have the experience to be involved in the race.

Jason was there with me, and got some great pictures!

Me yelling “MEATBALL!!!”  Mike says it was more like “Here Meatball Meatball Meatball.”

Mike says the fact that he’s not even looking at me or the bottle is a great thing.  I did very well feeding him.

It looks so relaxed here:

And. . . . release!

Very fun and exciting.