Looking for Dolphins

I've been in the Azores for two days and I finally have some pictures to share. I wish I could say that the weather has been better, but it has been absolutely pouring rain today. But hopefully it will just be for today, since our tour guide (my mom) had to go into the office today anyway. So here is what we have been up to.

We spent Saturday afternoon walking around Praia da Vitoria, a town just next door to the town where my mom lives, Fonte do Bastardo (translation: "fountain of the bastard).....

And we spent Sunday morning taking a dolphin hunting boat trip. Wait - that's dolphin watching. Unfortunately, the dolphins were feeling a little shy that day. We didn't see any, so we took a scenic tour around "Split Rock" (you'll see in the pictures) and the around the south-eastern coast of the island instead. Still fun!

International Cosmo-Blogging Volume II: Greetings from the Azores!

Welcome to the second annual edition of "International Cosmo-Blogging," coming to you this year from the Azores!

Well, we're finally here! After months and months of anticipation and waiting, my sister Kaitlin and I are officially on a fabulous vacation in the Azores! As you can see from the map above, it was a pretty long trip. But there weren't any crying babies on our planes, we had plenty of time to make all of our connecting flights, and we even got bumped up to business class on the flight from London to Lisbon.

We just got in last night and I've already taken a few pictures that I wish I could share - but my suitcase didn't make it any farther than London. Kind of a bummer since all my clothes, shoes, swimsuits, makeup, contacts, and my camera's USB cord are in that bag. Hopefully I will be getting it back tonight and I can get on with my vacation in style.

Anyway, it is very beautiful here and I can't wait to get out and start seeing things. It's so nice to see my mom and Topaz (it's been almost a year!), and meet the new member of the family, a little black kitty named Lilly. Since today is the Fourth of July, I believe we are going to a barbeque at my mom's work tonight, so I can meet all of her coworkers and hopefully catch some fireworks.

Now, if you'll excuse me I've got some vacationing to do!

Oh My God

I have been so busy! (And a little bit lazy.) Let's see, what have I been up to so far in 2009?

Well, I went to the University of Michigan looking for new blood for DISH Network. I'd recommend staying away from Ann Arbor during January.

I got my world rocked by The Killers.

Oh yeah....I got a tat! What can I say, sometimes you have to drive up to Wyoming on a Saturday afternoon and get a tattoo with your sister. (Despite how sick I look in that picture, I neither cried nor barfed, thank you very much.)

But I haven't been completely neglecting my apartment. I got a really cool print for Christmas and I finally worked up the courage to hang it on my wall! Yes, nail met plaster.

Plus, my friend Kristen moved to Washington, D.C. a few weeks ago. She's currently staying with my dad but she hopes to find a place of her own soon, so I can't wait to showcase her new fabulous apartment!

More to come later....

The Bookshelf

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I did - and I got some great gifts for my apartment! Hopefully I'll get to all of them, but I'm going to start with the present from my dad and stepmom, since it's been consuming most of my night.

I have been coveting a particular bookshelf at Pier 1 for months, and now that it's sitting in my living room I'm so happy. Thanks Dad and Nicole!

Okay, let's preface the story with this. Me, little 5-foot-tall Meghan, dragged this box....

....up these stairs....

....all by myself. For a little context, that box was a good 4 inches taller than me. Luckily, I remembered to lift with my back, with a jerking, twisting motion.

I've never put a real piece of furniture together before, so I was little nervous. But I was so excited about the bookshelf that I decided to go for it anyway.

I wasn't sure what any of these were for, so I just threw them away.

It was pretty easy and straight forward up until this point. When I had to put the other side on is where I ran into trouble.

Both of those triangular shelves had three little dowels on each side that had to fit into the sides of the bookshelf. It took me about 45 minutes to get them all in. Either one fit in and the other five didn't, or five fit in and one didn't. But I eventually figured it out.

Voilà!

And then the best part - putting stuff all over it! The style is called "bookseller" because those triangular shelves are obviously meant to hold books. I think it's really unique and pretty, but I need to get some more books now that I have two bookshelves to fill!

So far I'm really happy with it. I think it looks so nice and really goes well with the rest of my furniture. I felt like my living room was missing just one more piece, this makes it feels complete.

Now, who the hell is going to clean up this mess??

Tão Ciumento!

That's how you say "so jealous" in Portuguese. I am so jealous of my mother because in August, she moved to the Azores. For those of you not in the know, the Azores is an archipelago of 9 islands about 900 miles off the coast of Portugal.

My mom lives on the island Terciera. She has a villa right near the beach, is enjoying 60-degree weather in December, and has been doing all sorts of fun things like going to bull runs.

While she still needs to send me some pictures of her fabulous villa furnished (since I took most of her furniture....), here are some pictures she sent of me of her new place and the neighborhood. Needless to say, I'm already planning my vacay.

And here's our dog Topaz, being very pouty at the airport. Poor Toto, I'm sure the 5-hour flight was not fun for her. But I hear she's having a blast and making lots of new friends in her new island paradise home!

Fa La La La La

Day....

and night.

I am really happy with the way my icicle lights look on my balcony. I decided not to do a tree this year, so it's nice to have a little something luminescent. Though I do have those nice big living room windows, so if I decide to do a tree next year, I'm sure it will look really pretty.

With my lights finally up, I'm starting feel a little more in the Christmas spirit. So I thought I would share my holiday/winter playlist. I think it's rockin this year!

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" Bebo Norman

"Mushaboom" Feist

"Changes" Seu Jorge

"Amazing Grace" Sufjan Stevens

"It Was a Strange Time in My Life" Jens Lekman

"It Really Is (A Wonderful Life)" Mindy Smith

"You Really Got a Hold on Me" She & Him

"Love Came Down at Christmas" Jars of Clay

"You, Me, and the Bourgeoisie" The Submarines

"Carol of the Bells" The Bird and The Bee

"That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!" Sufjan Stevens

"Winter Song" Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

"King of Carrot Flowers Part 2 & 3" Neutral Milk Hotel

"Winter '05" Ra Ra Riot

"You Could Be Happy" Snow Patrol

"Tidal Wave" The Killers

"No Christmas While I'm Talking" The Walkmen

I have two songs from Sufjan Steven's 2006 Christmas album (Sufjan Stevens: Songs for Christmas) in there. Buy it - it's gorgeous.

It's ALIVE!!!!

I am happy to report that neither I nor my cat are dead. For myself, there is no excuse for neglecting my blog for almost 3 months, other than I've been oh so busy and stressed out with work and such, and for a while my apartment was looking slightly worse than a city dump.

As for Mollie, I was genuinely worried that after I arrived home on Saturday from my three-day Thanksgiving vacation at the Harper-family celebration in Ohio that Mollie would not be alright. She was acting very strange in the days before I left and I was afraid that at 12 and a half years old, it might just be her time. But when I opened my door she ran out of my bedroom and proceeded to chastise me very loudly for the next few hours. So I think she's fine.

Anyway, now that Christmas is coming, I'm back to blogging! I'm planning on hanging some icicle lights from my balcony in the next few days, so I'm sure that will be a terrifying disaster I'll just have to write about.