Chicken Kiev!

That's right!  My other exciting news is that I got my first assignment, I'm going to Kyiv!  In Ukraine! (I've been told it's no longer called "the" Ukraine.)  Some fun facts about Kyiv:

1.  It has a UNESCO site, the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra or Monastary of the Caves

2.  It does actually have a tour guide book which I purchased the other day

3.  They speak Ukrainian and Russian (I'm going to learn some Russian and try to mix in some Ukrainian while I'm there)

4.  It has a beautiful metro system (that puts other European metro's to shame in their opinion!)

5.  They are excited that Christina Aguilera is going to perform there...

6.  They are also proud of their very own Bond girl (I guess in the current movie)

7.  There are over 40 casinos (which I will be avoiding!)

8.  They have a female prime minister

9.  There seems to be lots of restaurants, an opera company, and a few musuems!

So, I'm pretty excited!  It's not going to be an "easy" assignment, but it should be definitely interesting and a good project!  I just have to wait to find out who my boss is going to be, and when I'm actually going to go!  Small details, right?  But it won't be for a few months at least!

~L

Walkups Abroad!

My mom, dad, aunt, bro and I returned safely (if reluctantly) from our Italy vacation!  It was lots of fun, and although it rained a little bit (the whole second week!) we got to see and do everything we wanted!  And of course we got to eat lots of great Italian food!  Also, everyone met my boyfriend who was very well liked by all - especially when he was helping to carry the suitcases!  We went to Venice, Rome, and Florence.  Luckily, we were in Venice the weekend before the flooding!  It snowed a little bit while we were there!  In Rome, we had lovely weather, and a perfect day to have a fabulous picnic in the Forum.  We enjoyed proscuitto, braesola, bread, and cheese, and of course prosecco and some white wine!  It was amazing.  Some of the other tourists were even taking pictures of us eating (that was weird).  Thanksgiving we also had amazing weather and got to eat Thanksgiving lunch at the same restaurant that I went to last year on the Appian Way.  But then the rain started when we went to Florence.  It wasn't too bad, or at least not when we couldn't wait it out in the hotel drinking vino and snacking on fruit and cheese before going to dinner!  And playing bananagrams!  I did not end up running the marathon on my birthday, but it was a lovely birthday none the less, actually all the more!  We saw the marathon runners though, and it actually looked quite nice and not too crowded.  Sadly, even 2 weeks went by in a flash, and it was back to the real world.  But, as you will see in the next post, I did get to come back to some exciting news....  (to be continued!)  But first, I am going to attempt to add a Picasa Web Albumn to show the rest of the photos from the trip!

~L

New Project!

Despite the fact that I haven't finished my previous project, I've started crocheting a new project because I was so excited to start one from Robyn's book!  I'm going to make the "Rachel Swing Jacket" because it's getting cold and I've never made a jacket!  Or a top down sweater.  So it's very exciting.  Plus, I like having multiple projects to work on.  My Crossover top is actually a knitting project now that I'm working on the edging, so it's nice to switch back and forth between the knitting and crocheting.  Yay!  I'm off to crochet some more before bed time.

~L

Ridiculous Bunny Cuteness!

Honestly, sooooo awesome!  Maybe one day I can capture my buns in action (although in their older age they are not quite that frisky anymore).  I'll have to get someone who has a digital camera and a cool mac to make a video for me...

~L

Manassas and the Civil War

This past weekend (a long weekend thanks to Christopher Columbus), my friend and I got a chance to visit the Manassas Battlefield Park.  Well, really, he wanted to go to a Cracker Barrel, and one of the closest ones just happened to be right down the street from the park, so it really only made sense to drive out to Manassas to do something besides just eating at Cracker Barrel so we also went to the park.  It was neat, and did a good job of showing the history.  There was a good video and a little musuem.  Apparently there were two battles of Manassas, and the North lost both of them.  (Northerners actually call it the First and Second Battle of Bull Run.) But the South can't get too cocky because we all know how it turned out in the end...  In fact, neither side can be too proud because over 620,000 Americans died in the civil war which is just slightly more than all other wars combined.  That is a shocking statistic!  The first battle was the first major battle in the civil war.  People actually brought picnic lunches to watch from nearby hills and thought that it would be the only major battle.  In the second battle, something like 15,000 Northern troops died and 10,000 Southern troops died (or were wounded which pretty much equals death in a time before penicilin).  So can either side really call that a victory?  It was certainly eye-opening and frightening to picture that much death.  And while I'm glad that the North eventually won, I have to wonder what brought them to such a place that so much death was the only answer?  Sad.  I guess the silver lining is that we haven't had another civil war since!   And hopefully, we never will.  So it was definitely an interesting visit.  And being from the North, it was interesting to be at a site of Southern victories.  But like I said before, we all know how it turned out in the end!  It has inspired me to rent the Ken Burns documentary.  And possibly read that book on Lincoln (Team of Rivals).  It certainly was a fascinating moment in our country's history!

~L

Bunny Buddies on Bunspace

Wow.  Bunspace may just be the silliest but happiest website in the world!  It's like myspace, but for bunnies!  Mikey, Kevin, and even Murphy have their own pages now.  Murphy's profile has a rainbow because in bunny world, all of the little bunnies that have passed away are said to have "gone over the rainbow bridge".  I think it applies to all pets actually.  There's a really nice poem about how they are all up in some sort of pet heaven frolicking about!  But it's a great site to look at pictures of everyone else's bunnies.  And the bunnies also have blogs!  Some of the other bunnies have already sent messages to Mikey and Kevin.  One bunny even sent in a story to Kevin, in response to his attempts to chew on the ottoman, that described an even better idea for furniture destruction!  It's pretty cute.  So check out their profile pages!  And I think that you can give them a carrot.  Although that might only be for members...

~L

Crossing Over - Soon!

No, not to some strange religion or parallel universe.  Just that I'm excited that I (finally) finished the second panel of my "Crossover Top"!  Hooray!  I just have to do the edging and the waist band and voila!  My second Robyn sweater will be complete!  Then I just have to figure out which of the projects from her new book to make first! :)

~L