Creatively Girt

A few people have asked me about where I stayed while I was away, so for my next holiday story, the theme is: hotels. I dont know what people want to hear about so if there is a particular part of my trip you wanna know about drop me a line and I'll be sure to tell you about it.

( Cut for length )
When I finally upload some pics, I'll add them to the entry so you can see some of the rooms/views for yourself. :O)

Upcoming stories: The Day Trips (Niagara, Grand Canyon etc), The Museums.
(feel free to request what you want to hear about)

Hi All.

Sorry its been so long between emails. But I havent had a chance to get to a computer all week.

So, this is my last night in New York. And yes, my last night is consisting of takeaway chinese (delivered to the hotel lol), internet, washing clothes and repacking (have bought a second suitcase - havent really bought that much, at least not in comparison to Laura, but I think I am in danger of going over the weight limit with just one bag). I am such a party girl. :O)

But I have gone out a few nights here - if you count going to Broadway shows as going out. Come on, what else did you expect from me?? :O) Have seen four shows here, and saw three in London, so I am very happy with that effort. Have gotten to see quite a few awesome (and just famous) people on stage - Kelly Osborne (she of the not awesome just famous category lol), Siobhan Donaghy, Patrick Stewart, Kevin Kline, Jennifer Garner and Claire Danes. Kevin Kline is made of win.

So what else have I been doing in New York? Went to Canada for the day (okay, so it was Niagara falls, and I was in Canada for less than two hours, but its still fun to say), went to a few museums (and saw more Van Gogh!!!), did a lot of shopping, went to the Central Park Zoo, met up with letmypidgeonsgo and so on.

Flying to Vegas tomorrow morning. My shuttle to the airport is 5am!!! Have the day in Vegas, then to Cirque du Soliel that night. Next day is my Grand Canyon trip. Then fly home late the next night.

Cant believe the trip is nearly over. Have loved it all (well, most of it, nothing is perfect right) and though part of me wants to keep travelling forever a part of me will be happy to get home. I am so sick of wearing the same clothes all the time. LOL. Living out of a suitcase is so not for me.

Not sure if I will get a chance to write again. Will see you all when I'm back online!!

Love Rach

I'm in Paris!!!! Once again, just copied from an email I'm sending home:

Bonjour mes amies.

Just a quick email to let you all know I'm alive and well. And this will be a short email because in France all the keys on the keyboard are in different places and so I can't type quickly. LOL.

So today we are moving away from the Contiki accom to our own hotel. It could not have come soon enough - the Contiki hotel was so crappy. Have seen a lot in paris - went to versailles, the louvre, musee d'orsay, catacombs, the opera house, the champs elysee, the eiffel tower, the notre dame, had a night cruise along the seine etc. Have hung out with some of the contiki people a bit - having dinner together each night etc. The first person I met on the tour was from [insert home town here]!!! she seriously lives about a minute from my house. So funny.

Have a few things planned for my last few days in paris - the musee rodin, euro disney, some shopping, going up the eiffel tower at night etc. And then its back to london. So weird but in a way going back to london kinda feels like going home. LOL.

Anyway, better leave it there. Gotta get back to the hotel and check out and move to my nice new hotel. :o)

Hope you are all well.

Love Rach

PS - once again, please forgive all the bad spelling and grammar and lack of capital letters. French keyboards are hard enough as it is. LOL.

PPS - I will leave comments on this time, but I dont think I will get a chance to reply.

GIP. Again. James in a hat ... *drool*

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Okay, so here is a rundown of my weekend.

Friday:

My boss left work at about 1.30/2.00ish and tells me I can leave now too. That would be awesome, if she didnt pick the one day I was staying in the city to go out after work. Of course the one day she says I can leave early I cant anyway. But then I decided if she said I could leave early it meant I could leave work and go shopping. :O) So I did. I bought a few DVDs - The OC Season Four (the only season I've bought - Ryan/Taylor FTW), Dead Like Me Season One (so I dont have to borrow it off my suster anymore) and Liar Liar (it was on sale).

Then E (my sister) and I went to Lygon St and had dinner. It was drizzling but we still decided to eat outside coz the cafe was hot and stuffy, and there were large umbrellas so we wouldnt get rained on. Which was fine. And then it started raining sooo heavily. Biggest raindrops ever. And it was fine, we got a bit of mist from the edges of the table but still not rained on. But then I realised, all the rain was falling onto the ground, and rolling down the slight slope of the footpath, and the bottom of my jeans got soaked. Not fun.

Then after eating we went and saw December Boys. It was good. It wont be for everyone - very character driven, as opposed to plot driven. Dan was excellent. Seriously. As for the Oz accent, I thought it was really good. I could hear the Brit coming through once in a while but on the whole, very good. I wont say more for those of you out there who havent seen it and dont want to be spoiled.

Saturday:

In the morning (like 9am) E and I went shopping. I needed a new top for the hens night I was going to that night (and for my trip) so I needed her second opinion. We did a few other things while we were out before I went back to her house to make a post over at hermione_ldws saying the result and challenge posts would be coming later because my net at home had died. Thats right, it has died again. Stupid bigpond. Anyway, then I left E's and went to pick up auxetoiles23 from the station.

auxetoiles23 and I are going overseas soon but we hadnt actually met each other before. LOL. But it was totally great. *squishes her* I took her back to my house coz my mum wanted to meet her. I think my mum wanted to make sure she wasnt a 45yo male or something, since we met online. LOL. So she met my mum and I showed her around my place and some of my stuff from my last holiday. Then we went to Highpoint. Got some food, did a bit of shopping for the trip, and went and saw The Nanny Diaries. It was okay - not as funny as I hoped but still okay. Pretty much what you expected it to be. Then we left and I dropped auxetoiles23 at the station before heading home. The next time we see each other will be in London!!!

I got home from Highpoint, got changed, and then my friends L and C picked me up to go out to the Hens Night. Honestly, C and I were a bit confused as to why we were invited. We arent that close with the bride (we were friends in high school - though not even close friends - and we only really see each other once or twice a year). Anyway, L dropped us off (he somehow didnt get an invite to the bucks night, despite being better friends with the groom than we are with the bride AND living with the groom for a bit in the past). C and I decided we were there because a) another high school friend is maid of honour, and we are close with her, and b) to make up numbers. LOL. Anyway, it was at one of those theatre restaurants. It was an okay night. There were a few funny moments - the climax of the show being one of the male actors gracing the stage in a Borat mankini comes to mind. LOL. So wrong but so funny. C and I didnt go out afterwards - L came to pick us up and I went home to bed.

Sunday:

E and I were supposed to go see Stardust. But by then I was knackered. LOL. Also, our older sister J was having one of those Enjo parties, so we thought we should probably go. So I went to J's at about midday so I could user her net for a bit before the party. The rest of the day was spent on the couch watching The OC.

So hopefully E and I (and her boyfriend) will be seeing Stardust some time this week.

*

Since I have had no access to the internet, I have been skimming my flist at work. It got up to something like skip=250. If I missed anything, please let me know.

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Re: fic. I have been working on my smutty_claus fic, since its due a few days after I get back from my holiday. Alas, that means I have had to put aside my 7spells series. For those of you who remembered the writers block I was having with the smutty parts - I have written a bit more since the last time I complained about it, but its still not done. *cries* Hopefully I'll come back from my trip all rejuvenated and finish it in one go. *crosses fingers*

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Holiday Countdown - 10 days to go
Work Countdown - 7 days of work left

If you made it through all of that, I salute you!! :O)

Hope everyone has a good week.

♥♥♥♥

Comment and I'll give you a letter.
- You have to list 10 things you love that begin with that letter.
- Afterwards, post this in your journal.

I got my letter from mrsquizzical. The letter she gave me was Y. I could not think of 10 things beginning with Y. So I went back and she gave me another letter - L. I decided to use the Y to do the other meme going around at the moment. :O)

In no particular order...
Love - Yes, its a corny and predictable response, but its still a worthy one
Laughter - Yet another corny and predictable response. :O) But seriously, whats better than a big laugh??
Lost - Okay, so its not a good as it used to be, but its still one of the most intriguing and unpredictable shows on TV.
Lollies - I'm a major junk food addict, what can I say. :O)
London - Yay for travelling. Didnt spend much time in London last time, only a few days, so will be there seven days this time!
Love of my Life - Dave Matthews & Santana - Come on, you knew I had to include some DMB love. :O)
Lord of the Rings - Still some of the best movies around. Simply stunning. And Fellowship is still my all time best cinema experience.
Labyrinth - One of the first movies I remember watching. And I love it as much today as I did then. Possibly where my cross-gen shipping tendencies came from. LOL.
Luke - Luke is my best friend. Has been for about nine years now. We dont see each other much anymore, but I will always consider him my best friend, and I love him dearly.
Live - the first band I was really into. I've seen them several times in concert. Their music was playing (coincidentally) in several major moments in my life, both good and bad, mostly bad, but I still love them.


Comment and I'll give you a letter. In your journal, list 10 of your favorite songs that begin with that letter.

In no particular order...
Yeah - Kelly Clarkson
You Don't Know Me - Jann Arden
You Know You're Right - Nirvana
You Make Me Sick - Pink
You Never Know - Dave Matthews Band
Your Mistake - Sister Hazel
You Belong to Me - Jason Wade
Your Winter - Sister Hazel
Youth of a Nation - P.O.D.
You Know My Name - Chris Cornell

If you want a letter, feel free to comment and I'll give you one. Let me know which meme its for. :O)

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On a completely unrelated note - 7 weeks til my holiday. And I paid it all off today. Its really happening!!!

Because I feel sick and tired - something to cheer me up and distract me for five minutes.

Gacked from shocolate and simons_flower.

This is the list of the fifty most-visited tourist attractions in the world. Bold where you've been. (the italics are places I havent been but intend to go on my holiday later this year *grins*)

( the places )

I know I have been fairly quiet of late. Yes, I am still writing (though not as much as I would like I'm afraid) and I am still working on teh moodthemes. RL has been kicking my arse of late, hence why you guys havent seen much from me. But here is whats doing with me right now:

* Made it through the first challenges at raylor_lims and hermione_ldws. Huzzah!

* Have had some (for lack of a better word) issues with my holiday. Its a really long story which I wont go into - I am very hopeful that next week we can get it sorted and I can tell you guys about the changes to my holiday. I'm sure it will all work out okay - even better than my original holiday plan - but this limbo is so crappy.

* Dance has been translated into Russian!! Dance (in Russian). I got someone else to double-check the translation was spot on and she only saw one mis-translation. What should have been along the lines of she felt him tense was translated as she felt his arousal. LOL. Its been fixed now though.

* Because of the lovely Dave Matthews guest starring on an ep and me seeing some spoilery icons I finally caved and DL'ed all the S3 eps of House. :O) This also means that since I am now up to date and dont have to be worried about being spoiled again I have dipped my toe into the House fandom. Any of my US flisters into House??

* I went and saw Weird Al Yankovic last night. The concert itself once it actually started was very good. The rest of the night sucked. Here is how it went. There were 7 of us going so my half of the group met at my best friends house to meet with his work mate and his wife who had a seven seater and were driving. We got there at 5pm. Driver & Wife were supposed to be there at 5.15. He rocked up at 6pm - with no apology, nothing. This was extra annoying because one of my friends had specifically left work early and made the effort to be there on time. We got into the city fine but because we left so late we didnt have time to have a proper sit down dinner in a restaurant. So we went to a food court in Southbank and went to Nandos. The people there had major attitude, the cashier gave me a meal when I just ordered a burger and drink (and I didnt realise until too late), and when I finally ate said burger halfway through I bit into a small bone. Yeah. So anyway, we went and sat down in the theatre. Show was supposed to start at 8pm - at which time the support act, a crappy stand-up comedienne came on. She sucked. She left at 8.15 and then people were scurrying about the stage so we figured the show would start at 8.30. 8.30 came and went. 8.45 came and went. 9.00 arrived. The audience was getting a bit narky at this point so Weird Al came over the speaker to announce they were having technical difficulties with their projectors and they wanted to give the best show possible and they really appreciated our patience etc etc. We could tell before that that they were having tecnhincal probs but it should not have taken 45 minutes for them to announce it. Finally at about 9.20 the show started - with 2 out of the 3 projectors working. But like I said, once the show actually started, it rocked.

* When we were at the Arts Centre we saw posters for King Lear with Sir Ian McKellon. Thats right, Sir Ian is coming to Melbourne to do Shakespeare. I really wanted to go when I found out about it around a month ago but figuring no one would want to see Shakespeare with me I didnt ask. But when I showed the posters to my sis she was all 'that would be cool.' I take this as further proof I have the worst luck in the world. :O) So I called up this morning to see if they had any tickets left but of course they were all sold out.

* I had an RDO yesterday and went and saw Wild Hogs. It wasnt bad. And I saw a preview for PotC3 up on the big screen. *grins*

* For anyone who remembers this post with me squeeing with pride over my younger sis finally getting on board with the hp books - she is halfway through PoA and yesterday bought all the remaining books. *beams*

Well, I think thats everything. If you made it through all that you deserve a cookie. :O) Hope everyone has a good weekend. *loves*