as promised - pix
the pix for the trip are in the blog link below on the right

hello from florence
Dear Blog Readers - I am engaged!!!! wooo hooo!

Ben popped the question in Prague, at the castle.

pix r on our picture blog ask if you want the link IL

day 4? - european trip
Guess I better back it up some:

|'ve been in europe for the last few days. Starting Monday the 27th of May.

27 May 05 - 5am - 11 pm travel from chicago to england, first class.
boy, first class sure is nice

28 May 05 - 29 May 05: hung out with Norbert and Tanja in England. Saw
Les Mis, The buckingham palace, Thems, Big Ben, and Trafalgar sqaure.

We stayed in between Lester Square and Piccadilly Circuse. I think my
favorite british food is a black currant tart.

Ate at the Square, one of the top restaurants in town. Had lunch in a
boat on the river.

30 May - 31 May - we are in Austria, about to drive off to Hungary.

Vienna was great - walked around for about 7 hours yesterday, ate at
the #1 restaurant in town, now forgot the name, and then had Saher
Torte at teh Saher cafe.

I had coffee at the Ferstl Castle in Austria yesterday (by accident).
Let's see... it's pretty big - takes up a city block, and has 3
restaurants (including the very famous Central Cafe, that was
frequented by the Illuminati, Freud, and a variety of other people
that were historically important) and a mall in it, as well as I don't
know what upstairs. They gave me a fact sheet about the castle, but I
haven't chanced to read it yet. Austria retained its stronghold as my
second favorite country in Europe.

If you wanna see the castle... pix for that part of my day are not up
yet, but they will be like tomorrow.

http://homepage.mac.com/bengottlieb/PhotoAlbum5.html is the blog link.

Good bye sheep's curds, hello duck gizzards and pig innards - on on, to Hungary!

braglog
sometimes, i think i use this to brag.

for example: my most handsome boyfriend sent me gigantic most
beautiful incredible dozen long stem rozes you've ever seen plus a 1lb
box of super duper mama moore's chocolates to die for! YUUUUUM! just
cuz it's been 3 months. I have like the best boyfriend in the world.
Totally. wow.

now for general comments:

If
I grew up in this country, I could do what this girl does... I
wish I had these kinds of advantages growing up. Instead, I'm only
learning swimming now :-( and only learned golf 3 years ago... now,
after 3 years and only 3 lessons, I'm a mid-lower-90's player. And my
coach for swimming mentioned that I actually have natural tallent for
it and that he can find hardly anything wrong with my body angle......
bummer - maybe if I started earlier, I'd've been an olympian. :(

but.... life is real, life is earnest and as my wonderful boyfriend
said- if I would have gone to the olympics, i would have probably
never met him... and so everything happens for a reason.

By the way, back to the swim - my coach, who I need to plug, John
"Fitz" from the Chicago Blue
Dolphins totally totally rocks. Turns out my Tri coach Kevin (I
signed up for the 1/2 ironman training program with the CES, who I'll
plug later cuz I don't have the link) actually trains with him too, as
does virtually every good swimmer in the city. And we videotaped my
stroke for analysis Sunday. How cool and hi-tech is that? Super cool,
and super hi-tech. Umm, yeah, that's right.

Work sucks. I'm burned out about it cuz it's nothing but problems and bad news.

Europe is coming in just a few days. Friday, to be exact. Expect this
to turn into a travel and world commentary blog for the week as I take
time off to think about how I live my life as oppose to just living it
and doing stuff.

I am bringing a sketch-book on the trip. i plan to do some drawing.

this weekend i: did not see starwars, but did start my 1/2 ironman
program with a 35 min run Saturday. I also swam lots. And today, I
swim again, though my arms are tired. Lots of stuff to do for work and
play before the trip still.

if my mum

wowy zowy
Okay.

I know I may have mentioned that I am dating the coolest guy in the
world. BUT: he earned more coolness points this weekend when he:
-took my flying
-let me fly the plane for a few minutes (fully supervised, no worries)

(it went like this: "okay, put your hands on this and don't make any
sudden movements. You see, we are tilting left. Correct by turning
slightly right. Now, when the nose is down, gently pull up!)

(meanwhile in my head - "thank god there are two controllers on this
thing." and "i don't like this nose down deal one bit" and
"AAAAEEEEEEEEEEEE ")

later this summer I will return the favor by teaching said boyfriend
to sail my J22 or 420.

---

2 weeks till europe!

----

did i mention i get to learn how to drive stick in europe?

--
addie had his comic show this weekend. My cousin took pix.

oh also
HG and LJ ran with me. HG finished almost at the same time, LG of
course kicked our butts with 1:50 time.

specifically
Lake Geneva Marathon 2005
Half Marathon
date: 05/07/2005
location: Lake Geneva, WI [NWS forecast]

Summary number of finishers: 256
number of females: 105
number of males: 151
average time: 02:04:42

1/2 marathon #3 - Lake Geneva
overall place208
div place 14
div t17
sex pl 78
pace 10:41 :-( hey there were big hills, it was stinky, and most of
all - i was trying to not get further injured on knee or calf.
overall time :-( 2:19:53

Re: a case of the ex, tri, and other antics.
Topic: my own bachelorette show
10:45 PM, Thursday, May 5th.
Undisclosed location in Gold Coast

My phone: Ring Ring
Me: Hello?
My phone: Hi, it's your ex. I am drunk.(disclamer that really
says - I am going to say whatever I want and then regret it the next
morning)
Me: Uh, Okay.... I just finished dinner with my BOYFRIEND that I'm
going to marry
My phone: Ummm, I love you. I'm sorry I wasn't good enough for you.
Are you sure you are happy?
Me: Like, duh! I don't settle. Oh yeah - you are a great guy, just
not the guy for me
--------

11:05 PM, Thursday, May 5th.
Undisclosed location on the interstate

My phone: Ring Ring
Me: Hello?
My phone: Like, what's up? - Ex #2.
----------

Umm, it's raining Ex's.

---------

Next I should tell you about the allergy I had to my new beau's ex's.
But in a separte email when I have more time.

---------------

pets
Molly bit by accident a doglet due to aggrivation from another
doglett. Everyone's okay. poor doggies.....