A Little bit of NY is good for Everyone!

Last weekend I had the distinct pleasure of visiting two of my dear friends, Lindsay and Kathryn, in NY!! This trip was part of my spurn of Boston when Jimmy and I decided we'd rather live in Alabama or continue our marathon run in North Carolina - and I subsequently had a wasted flight that I transferred up to the big apple!

I stayed with both Lindsay and bf Rob and with Kathryn. Lindsay, in the upper east side, is in an adorable small studio apartment (also the name of her blog, hopefully I can convince her to make it public soon enough), and Kathryn is in a similar space somewhere in lower west/greenwich - we had a great extended weekend shuttling back and forth between the two!

Friday I spent shopping, while my lady-friends worked wayyyyyy too hard, and then ate and vegged in the Chanel showroom --- you know, a typical day on the town with my fancy amigas. Here is little Gassy as she showed Karl what's up. She's so stylish.

Also got to spend some time on Saturday with Nick Olsen, of the blog https://nickolsenstyle.blogspot.com/ - and my alma mater EDS (Episcopal Day School!), with Lindz and Kathryn doing some flea markets all over the city (and gelato!).

Uhhh, a shot of Kathryn really peeved when our cabby at 4:30 am decided that we didn't know where we were going, and kicked us out of his cab in the middle of the street in his shrill eastern-euro-accent!

Here are pics of the men of the town, Chris and Rob, both who were so generous with me sharing their ladies! I hope to go back soon again to visit!

Chile!

Oh - Chile - the country that is shaped for its namesake...... Both Jimmy and I were wondering which came first? The country's name, or the name of the Chile Pepper???

After a quick wiki-search...it seems that the name of the country came first- my favorite theory is the one in where Chile is named after the mispronunciation of some Pichunche tribal chief, actually named TILI! haha. Those Incans do tend to mumble their words, I guess...

I went with the new in-laws, Jim and Ursula, Jimmy, and sister Cindy. We flew into Santiago and went straight to the coast - to Zapallar - a little ritzy old fishing town! Where the Chilean aristocrats go to unwind....

A little amateur footage of our lunch view.. I think this place is the combination of the beautiful evergreens from the Washington, Oregon, and California coast, combined with the tropical feeling of a typical resort!

We ate at this wonderful little seafood restaurant both nights we were there, and had a very patient waiter (and his brother) both nights to entertain us and try to interpret our Spanglish.

Somehow a little bit was lost in the translation the first night, and I ended up ordering, and then eating....eel. I thought I was eating sea bass or something...it was a bit chewier than expected... and I pawned the last half of the meal on Jimmy for a "swap" for his delicious white fish... Well - live and learn! It was beautiful and we got to see the quieter parts of the country that were different from that in Santiago.

Here also is a nice view of our hotel, and the little statue of a regal man to the left of the entrance (look hard)!

I was attacked by mosquitoes the first night when we naively left the window open for the fresh air...needless to say my hand was swollen so badly that I thought I had compartment syndrome and might need Jimmy to perform a fasciotomy! Whew thank goodness. (This picture is not even at the height of it- no knuckles!)

We left after three days and went to the Ritz Carleton in Santiago! Santiago is a beautiful, clean city in the foothills of the Andes Mountains! Gassy, my troll, had a great time with the all-day supply of wine and hors d'oeuvres at the executive suite! We probably ate and drank our weight that week.

Awesome trip to the Andes Mountains -horseback riding, (Gassy came along here too!).

We not only got the great view, but back down by the Maipo river we ate some delicious Chilean traditional food (I forgot the name - but has cornmeal, beef AND chicken, raisins, olives...very interesting).

Another trip was to a great vineyard in the heart of the city!

too much time

ok - so for those of you who haven't noticed....i've added a new blog. Yes, I know that one blog typically is sufficient, but this blog (see to the right, Windsor Portfolio), is more for me... and for my rambling ideas about our new house! I am going to use it like someone would use a typical portfolio, to keep ideas, pictures, inspiration, all for the new house.

Don't worry, any really important things that I think yall would like to see I will actually post to this blog, especially if I need help picking out colors or couches or something. The other one is a reference!

Also - today I am starting my pottery-wheel class at the local art studio! http://www.artscenterlive.org/index.php?a=ArtSchool&b=About

It is in this cute area where we live, called Carrboro. My friend Kim and I are going to make little things on wheels...I am planning a few bud vases for my rooms! Yay to three months off of school and life and pre-residency!!

B-HAM house hunting

home searching online...fun
home searching in real life...awesome
mortgage shopping??..what? (let's not talk about that)

It's ok because last weekend I had the glorious pleasure of creeping into other people's homes in Birmingham and checking out their awesome decorating skills and architectural details! and, to top it off, I can go back to my Realty website and creep some more, copying pictures of the rooms I loved!!

Anyone want to see the house we are trying to buy???? It's so awesome, that my typically half-involved, not really into pretty things-husband actually walked in, and within five minutes ran to me saying that this was the one! He offered to be a good sport the rest of the day and continue to look at all the others...but we came back at the end of the day to this one, and then drove past it twice before we left birmingham.

So we grew up about five years today and actually put an offer in!!!! Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday Fred!!

Happy Birthday Dad!
The big 56!

Just some photos to relive the old glory...

The old mustang, the old dog, the old waders...

and now...

the crab man!

I love you Dad - have a great day!

Learning Italiano!!!!

Ciao!

As Jimmy and I are planning our Italy honeymoon (this May) - I have attempted to take on the task of learning some Italian!


The language is quickly becoming basterdized by my awful pronunciation, and Jimmy's intermittent interjections of "Fabuloso!" and "Delicioso!"


Can't I just speak Spanish??

i give up...

HLAVACEK

Hlavacek pronunciation: ˈläv-ä-ˌchek


Origin: Polish (Jimmy claims it is Czech)

Derived from the Polish root word "glowa" - which means "head" (hmmmmmm....)

Spelling variations include: Hlavac, Hlovaski, Hlobeczy, Glowacki, Glowaczy, Hlobecki, Hloweczy (yikes I might have actually landed the best version!)

First found in Polesie, the largest province of Poland. It is inhabited by Ruthenians, called Polesians, of Ukrainian descent. The surname became noted for its many branches in the region, each house acquiring a status and influence which was envied by the princes of the region. In their later history the name became a power unto themselves and were elevated to the ranks of nobility as they grew into this most influential family.

Some of the first settlers of this family name were Ignacy Glowacki - NYC 1831, Katharina Hlavac who sailed to New Orleans 1872; and ANNA Hlavac who came to NYC in 1880!!!!!!

Not to be outdone by other famous Czech inventors, the Hlaváček family also is known for their fabulous line of accordians!

Apparently there are others who are so influenced by the name that they have been following the Hlavacek name in history- publishing for the masses.

Oh....to all you who said "you must really love him......" when you heard of my name change; how little did you know.

Hello Again!

I'm BACK!!!! For all those loyal followers....I've taken quite a hiatus, if you've noticed.


In the past 6 months there have been many many changes. Of most important is the name swap - who else gets to drop a Bouchelle in lieu of a Hlavacek??? And I will give everyone personal lessons on how to pronounce the new last name in due time!


In addition to getting married, I had the distinct pleasure of traveling to over 29 different residency programs to interview in the period of 3 months! We're talking Chicago (twice), Boston (twice), San Antonio, Birmingham (twice), Miami, Hershey Pennsylvania (my personal favorite, but, alas), DC (twice), Atlanta, Gainesville, the great Triangle (twice, but I live here) (for those of you from the 'deep south,' that refers to my home-away-from-home, Chapel Hill Raleigh Durham!), Winston Salem, Houston, Nashville, Jackson Mississippi, Richmond, Ann Arbor (brrrrr), and probably a few other important ones! Nice to be done with that - and the result, ironically - is that we are going to UAB!! haha where Jimmy did an away acting internship and if we had to narrow it down, one of the few places we would have picked had we not been crazy-paranoid about matching!!


There has also been a nice trip to Chile!!!! I'll post a bit more about that later. (Just a little preview!)




And a beautifully-rainy trip to the beach with lots of doggies - the Outer Banks in North Carolina - where we saw lots of dolphins that we repeatedly thought were sharks!

Photo courtesy of: Sasha Jenkins, MD, MPH, Photoameuterisia!

But - now, the dreaded selling of a house concomitantly with buying another!! "mortgage" = what/??@! I have no idea....I HAD no idea, that is, until we bought our "Personal Finance For Dummies."



Oh yes, very helpful. But actually I still don't really know what we are getting into. Can't really make myself break into it. VERY DRY..... How about just a little light reading with "Twilight" instead? We are headed down this weekend to do a whirlwind day of house hunting with our realtor....