I win! January 13, 2011

A long time ago my mom and dad did me a great favor – they taught me to play chess. I don’t know of very many people my age who play chess (at least not regularly), so I think Jared and I are pretty unique in that. You see, the 1st vacation Jared and I took together was up to Cooperstown, NY to visit the baseball Hall of Fame. The day before we drove upstate, a blizzard dumped about 30 inches of snow on the little town of Cooperstown leaving us with not too much to do once we got up there. Our bed & breakfast had a chess set and I surprised Jared by suggesting that we play. I think he was even more surprised when I was still playing strong an hour later!

I lost that game, but it prompted us to get a nice chess set for our living room and play about once a week to sharpen our skills. I admit I lose about 95% of the games we play, but last night a wonderful thing happened …

Checkmate!!

I am SO awesome!!

We played another game and Jared got even by beating me in record time, but it was worth it. Go me!

Florida would be nice right about now January 12, 2011

I’m supposed to be in Bonita Springs, Florida right now for a work-related meeting. Instead I’m typing this from my draft office trying to reorganize my week. My colleague and I were originally supposed to fly out today at noon, but tried to be a bit proactive and rebook a flight for yesterday at 7pm before the snow was supposed to hit. JetBlue didn’t think it was a good idea to take off so that was cancelled. And then I found out at 10pm last night that our 2nd rebooked flight for 7pm tonight was cancelled as well.

So instead of flying to Florida, I got to see Jared’s bball team play a nail-biting game, which they won with a 3 pointer with 3 seconds left on the clock. The universe obvioulsy wanted me to stay to see it!

We got about 9 inches of snow overnight. It started out looking like this ..

And I woke up to this …

Fun pic January 5, 2011

Mom Mom Boots would be so proud! August 31, 2010

Last night Jared and I decided that we didn’t want to sit at home, so we went over to the west side to check out Lucky Strike bowling alley’s All You Can Bowl deal. $22 got us unlimited play from 8pm-2am and shoe rental. Not bad for NYC! We got there a bit after 8pm (after downing some great Philly steaks at Shortys) and got in about 7 games before our wrists and hands were sore. But the big story of the night is that I bowled my all-time high score …

180!!

Good bowling genes must run in the family. I always remember Mom telling me what a good bowler Mom Mom Boots was and will always thank Mom for letting me be in that dorky bowling league when I was younger. Not many 29 year old women these days can rack up a 180!

1st visit with Mikey August 23, 2010

On Saturday Jared I went to Mike and Meg’s house to visit baby Mikey. He was just the cutest, calmest, most snuggly little guy we could have imagined! Some pics

Aunt Ashley and Uncle Jared with little Mikey

Snoozing baby ... seriously he slept the whole time we were there!

Such a little angel!

Welcome to the world baby Michael! August 18, 2010

Yesterday at 8:22pm, Michael and Megan welcomed Michael John Petrylak IV into the world! 8lbs 7oz, 21.75 in. I’m such a proud aunt!

He's adorable, isn't he?!

Petey attacks? August 16, 2010

J and I came home tonight after a day out in Brooklyn at a BBQ with friends only to discover a pigeon in our living room! He was just sitting there next to the coffee table hanging out. We were a bit perplexed about how he got in because we have screen in all of our windows — except one. This smart little guy must have squeezed himself in the 12″ x 5″ opening in the bathroom window! To be honest we were both incredibly freaked out and called a friend in for reinforcement. After calling our super (who was out to dinner) and dismissing Mom’s advice to throw a towel over him and then toss him back out the window (scary!), our friend decided to just chase him out of the apartment. Apparently pigeons in NYC aren’t that scared of people so when Vic stomped his foot behind the bird, it just walked away from him. So Vic just made him walk right out the door and we left him in the hallway for the super to deal with when he comes home. Don’t worry … we told the doorman he was wandering the halls!

Definitely a bit of a stressful night … and then we had to walk around the apartment and find all of his little poo presents that he left us. He even pooed on our friends beautiful wedding invitation! I’m not sure if that is a good or bad omen for their upcoming nuptials …

Petey 2 August 11, 2010

This little guy has been coming to sit on my window sill and visit me for the past two days. Back in the day when Jenni and Morgan and I lived on the Upper East Side, we had a pidgeon friend named Petey who would visit us each afternoon. So in honor of him, this guys is named Petey 2! Clever I know

Yes, that's my awesome view from my office!

Martha’s Vineyard August 11, 2010

Two weekends ago, Jared and I took a trip up to Martha’s Vineyard to see his good friend Jarrett get married to the lovely Amanda. The island was amazingly  relaxing and we had perfect weather! I wanted to share some pics with you – enjoy!

Our B&B -- Doesn't it remind you of the candy houses from Hansel and Gretel?

 

Gorgeous table settings with handpicked wildflowers - and the view was amazing!

 

Amanda and Jarrett got married on a private beach ... so pretty!

Jared, Ashley, Amanda, and Jarrett

My future beach house

Spent out last day in Edgartown ... quintessential beach town

My whereabouts … April 20, 2010

… remain unchanged!

Unfortunatley today’s flight was cancelled as well and I’m in a bit of a holding pattern while our travel coordinators work to figure out how to get me and my other stranded American colleague home. As I said before – I’m still safe and have a roof over my head and food to eat

The plan at the moment is to depart for the US from Madrid, Spain on either Friday or Monday. Getting to Madrid is actually the problem at the moment, as many of the trains are full. Eurostar (major express train service in Europe) has made 30,000 more seats available so that should help ease conjestion a bit.

To help take my mind off of this nonsense, I took a ballet class last night at a local performing arts academy. I love the fact that no matter what country I am in or whether or not I speak the language, ballet is an option for something to do. When you take a ballet class, the terms are all in French, which is a universal language for dancers pretty much. And when you go to see a ballet there are no vocals, so you are able to understand the story through the miming and dance. It’s quite an amazing phenomenon.

And just for fun, a few examples to show that Brits and Americans do not speak the same language!

rocket = arugala

car park = parking lot

for let = for rent

take away = take out