Phoenix

So after a little lull in the traveling (and lots of hours shoveling snow this winter and stuck in the office this spring), I went to Phoenix for 2 weeks for work. Phoenix was so beautiful. While I spent almost every day in the call center for 10-12 hours a day I did get one Saturday off to roam around town. There were so many wonderful things in and near Phoenix to do but I had to narrow it down. So, I ended up going to the Botanical Garden, the Zoo, Tempe, and the Heard Museum. The botanical gardens were spectacular. It was filled with all kinds of cacti, which were in bloom in April. The variety of cacti and flowers was awesome. I got to see plenty of humming birds as well. There was also a butterfly exhibit. After several hours at the botanical gardens I went to the Phoenix Zoo. It was a decent zoo...very large (lots of walking!) and nice exhibits. It's considered a zoo and sanctuary which means that the animals aren't always "on display" and can choose to hide if they want. But most of them were out and about.

After the zoo I realized I had gotten a nice sun burn on my arms and wasn't feeling up to a whole lot more adventure outside. Since I was near Tempe I decided to drive through the area to see what was there. It was a nice area with lots of good restaurants, but I decided to skip a meal and headed out after a quick drive. Since I had started to cool down I decided to go to the famous Heard Museum (indoors!). It's a museum focused on american indian art, culture, and history and has the world's largest collection of Hopi Katsina dolls. When I was there they had a special exhibit on Indian boarding schools and their history. It was very interesting (and very refreshing to be inside!).

After Saturday, while I would have liked to explore some more, work kept me very busy and I didn't get a chance to see anything else. It was still a beautiful visit. April is definitely a good month to visit the dessert.

Facebook Status

Figured out that I can link my facebook status updates to the blog, so those non-Facebook people out there can share in the fun. And yes, I realize I have not updated the rest of the honeymoon. Hopefully I'll do that ....at some point. :)

cruisin

we are on the ship. we had a day at sea yesterday and explored. the ship is pretty. we just kind of vegged out yesterday, did ceramics( yep that's right), and had a nice dinner. meals have been interesting. at breakfast we basically got taken out by a woman running for the same open table as us. i was so shocked by it i didn't know what to do. at dinner another couple left in a huff mid-meal. it was bizarre.

we are sitting on our balcony this morning, sailing through the stockholm archaepeligo and will be in stockholm to see an old viking ship in about 2 hours.

Germany again

Hi all

Matthias and I are in Germany again. I am typing on Anja's German keyboard and it is going slowly. Y and Z are flipping and all of the special characters are in different places.

We've mainly spent the weekend visiting with Matthias' mom and Oma, oh yeah, and the dog. We played Fluxx (in German) with Matthias' mom and despite the language disadvantage I won 3 times. We've had some wonderful home cooked meals also. We both woke up in the middle of the night last night (which is 9 am USA time) and decided to take advantage of being in the country to check out the northern sky. There is so little light pollution it was easy to see the Milky Way and make out tons of constellations.

Today we went into Flensburg and walked around, had lunch at the "most northern brewery in Germany" the Hansens Breurei, and then went to Glücksburg Castle for the afternoon.

Tomorrow we're catching the train from Flensburg to Copenhagen. We'll spend basically 2 days there before we get on the cruise.

Wedding Photos

Wedding

Mrs Poehler

It's hard to summarize the emotions of the weekend and all of the experiences. I'll say that it was a wonderful weekend. All of the stresses ahead of time paid off, as Friday evening and Saturday went off without a problem and I was stress-free. It was a wonderful wedding day and Matthias and I had a great time, especially being surrounding by such awesome friends and family.

I've seen some pics taken by friends and didn't cringe at them, so I guess that's a good sign. When I get a chance to download some I'll post them.

Wedding Planning and Arrivals

Wedding planning continues to unfold. I now have created a "master schedule" for the weekend and my to do list isn't too bad. Let's hope I still feel that way tomorrow after work!

Tomorrow starts the arrivals of guests for the wedding, starting with Matthias' best man. Soeren and his girlfriend Anika will arrive from Germany late tomorrow. Matthias and I spent a few hours today cleaning up a little bit more - moving boxes around, providing a light for their bedroom, making the bed, etc. There's still stuff everywhere but it's somewhat livable, I think.

I also introduced Matthias to Wegman's today. It was insanity at that place! And no, the Wegman's in Virginia looks nothing like the Wegman's in Henrietta, NY; the VA one is definitely designed for the $, whereas in NY it's designed for poor college students. Or at least it was back in the day...maybe they've remodeled. :)