July 2010
2 posts
A Few Pictures from Our Time in the states
Wendy and I have finally shaken off the jet lag (for the most part- despite people singing justin timberlake songs at 3am outside our window) from returning home to Manchester and are settling back in to normal life. One of our first orders of business was downloading some of the pictures we took while were were in America for nearly a month, although we were only able to get pictures off of one...
June 2010
2 posts
USA USA USA
we made it home to the states last week! when we landed in DC, it felt tropical outside. we are certainly not used to the heat and humidity.
we waited out rush hour by having dinner with one of zeke’s old friends from asheville before heading to the cabin/vineyard. after getting the rental car we had to stop at a sheetz gas station to get junk food and red bull to stay awake on the...
typical manchester
yesterday we had errands to run around town and soon got hungry and stopped for ‘jacket potatoes.’ wendy’s is plain (of course) and zeke’s has chicken curry on top. yes, they call them ‘jacket potatoes’- as if the potatoes were wearing little coats- and they are in stands around town and little drop-in cafes, like this one, for quick, cheap, (somewhat healthy)...
May 2010
10 posts
zeke's birthday
it was zeke’s birthday last weekend, and he got lots of cards and calls from family (thanks everyone!) but the highlight may just have been the package he got from Mark and Leslie that had lots of little gifts wrapped up.
Ah yes, the card really spoke to Zeke personally…
He actually got it about a week and a half before his birthday, so he decided to open one present a day...
crazy giant mall (the trafford centre)
to celebrate being done with classes and zeke’s birthday we decided to take a trip to a giant mall on the other side of manchester. we’ve heard the place is ridiculously over the top and although we had a little shopping to do, we mainly just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. we had planned to be fully engrossed in the spectacle and go to a movie, play putt-putt and...
platt park- happy 100th birthday
a few weekends ago the large park near our house, which is directly adjacent to our church, celebrated its 100 year anniversary. people were excited for the rain to have held off, and we managed to stroll through the festivities on our way back home after church.
the fluffy pink stuff on the side of the path is the gathering of the petals that have fallen off of some of the first blossoming...
An Evening with Malcolm Gladwell
Even though my sweet wife is super duper busy writing lots of important art history papers (actual titles: “The Eschatological Vision of William Blake: The ‘Apocalyptic Sublime’ in Blake’s Designs” and “Utopian Impulse in American Hip Hop: A Self-Reflexive Genre”), Wendy still got me a nice early birthday present: a ticket to see one of my favorite...
Another Post About Crazy Chip Flavors
I know we’ve thrown up plenty of posts about the bizarre chip/crisp flavors/flavours here, but our most recent purchase from the grocery store definitely warranted another one. It appears that, in preparation for the World Cup this summer, Walker’s is having their own tournament - the Flavour Cup, to determine the world’s best flavour. Here are the bags from the “Americas...
grandaddy
Francis Custis Downing Sr. 7 July 1926 - 4 May 2010
(wendy’s grandfather)
today i am wearing the locket he gave me as a girl that has always meant so much to me. it has pictures of my mom and dad in their early twenties inside and on the back of the locket it says, “God loves you & so do I.” this is a familiar saying to some, but from Grandaddy the “& so do...
April 2010
29 posts
Berlin Trip (Day 4)
this was our last full day in berlin and we took full advantage of it - zeke and wendy style. we intended to catch a bus into the city centre to do an english tour of the major sites. we got to the bus stop about 30 seconds before the bus was scheduled to come, however, german transportation is extremely prompt and usually early. so, we missed the hourly bus and hence our tour. but not to...
Berlin Trip (Day 3)
We woke up on our third day in Berlin determined to hit up a German flea market we had heard about. Our friend Rich was especially determined to find some Nazi artifacts, which you apparently have to ask secretly about because hardly anyone displays them out in the open. Sure enough, when he asked vendors about souvenirs from the Third Reich, a few of them looked side to side, then pulled out a...
Berlin Trip (Day 2)
after staying at kristi’s (see her below, the proud former resident of scranton- hence the shirt) we all woke up and headed to Potsdam, just outside of Berlin.
the weather was lovely and simply perfect for wandering around the baroque and rococo palaces of Potsdam. see the slideshows for lots of pictures of the palaces and the beautiful gardens surrounding them.
after walking around...
I'm (kinda sorta) lovin' it
The weather in Manchester today was absolutely amazing, so we felt like we had to spend at least a little bit of it outside. (Note: our bodies must have adjusted to England’s climate, because even with this amazingly warm weather, the temperature was still only 59 degrees. For reference, the low in Chapel Hill today is 59 - it’s 78 there right now.)
Still rocking the sweet mustache...
Berlin Trip (Day 1)
As many of you know, we spent last weekend visiting our friends Julia and Rich Rudolph in Berlin (and staying at new friend Kristi Walker’s home - thanks Kristi!). We saw (and ate) a lot during our trip so we’re putting up a post for each day we were there. First, a day one recap:
We arrived in Berlin a little weary and sour (easyJet deserves its own future whinging post for charging...
whinge-v. (whinged, whing·ing, whing·es) Chiefly...
so this is a new word we’ve picked up that gets used in our vocabulary quite often, as you might imagine. but when one of us is whining about something and the other says, “Oh, you’re whinging on and on”, it has a comic effect.
there have been a few things that constantly get whinged about here at the smiths. we hesitate to air our grievances because last time wendy...
March 2010
21 posts
Watchcapucine- the very cute little french story-teller. i’m thinking about stealing her haircut too!
1st day of spring break
today was wendy’s first day of spring break, so we had a sort of inauguration day for it. last night we stayed up as late as we could watching the NCAA basketball tournament, but of course we fell asleep before the exciting ending of the Kansas State/Xavier game. then while zeke went off to a meeting with a local photographer wendy enjoyed not having class by sleeping in and having coffee...
