November 2012 in pictures

November was another busy month for us. We traveled outside of he Netherlands, again. We really did make the most of autumn 2012, having not been able to travel much in the summer due to a kitty that couldn't stay healthy. I was a bit nervous to leave Islay during her recovery from surgery, but she seemed fine when we left and only starved for company when we got back. We went to Stockholm to visit a friend of mine, it was dreary, cold, and dark quickly, but the company was superb. I miss my friends "from Boston," but even if I moved back, it would never be the same. Being a scientist, most of my "Boston friends" weren't even from the USA let alone Boston, and many of them are not there anymore. The food was great, the coffee was great, and the yarn stores were cute, cozy, and reasonably priced. Stockholm is not as expensive as people would have you believe, but then Utrecht is  also extremely expensive IMO.

 We arrived in Stockholm just after Halloween and the Mexican embassy was hosting a party. So we went. Another Swede scientist friend from Boston also joined us so it was quite the little reunion. We ended up leaving around 1, being old fuddy-duddies, before the Mexican band even started playing.

Andreas and his partner live in the district Sodertorn, which is technically a suburb (but is literally right across the water from Sodermalm), and so the fastest way to get anywhere is via one of the many free ferries. This is looking out of the back of one.

We took a walk up a huge hill to a scenic look-out across Stockholm and from there could see the amusement park, closed for winter. I don't know why but i love pictures of empty amusement parks.

No trip to Stockholm is complete without a trip to the Vasa Museum. Incredible really. I highly encourage everyone to visit Stockholm just to see this.

After we returned home from Stockholm, Islay's life changed forever. We let her outside! She was a bit hesitant at first, but then was in total bliss smelling All the things.

She also decided she was a shoe. And therefore belonged in the shoe cubby that hangs from the ceiling.

October 2012 in pictures

Only 3 more months to go in my 2012 picture round-up. Actually, kinda glad. I'd like to touch on other things also, but feel I should finish one thing before starting the next. October as I remember it was a mixed bag of things. Autumn in general is like that. Islay continued to grow and amuse us, and was generally healthy this month (after several scares last month we were quite happy with that).

 Here is Islay annoyed at the flash but happy to explore my bag after we got back from the wedding in England.

 Book kitty was quite proud of herself for finally reaching the bookshelf from the radiator.

Fall colors begin to arrive along the canals of Utrecht.

 Islay finally started using the box we set up for her to sleep in. Now it's her favorite place.

 Poor kitty. She was spayed and wouldn't leave the stitches alone so we had to put a cone on her for her own good. She became quite depressed that week. Sadly she is also now terrified of the vets.

 I finished knitting a hat for the new baby girl of my cousin. I also finished a shrug but didnt get any good pictures of it. Too much grey blah.

September 2012 in Pcitures

September was a pretty busy month for us. We don't usually travel much, or even leave Utrecht that much. But this month we left the country twice and traveled to Scheveningen for a groupon dinner with friends. (Dutch test: can you correctly say Scheveningen?)

Caipirinhas! Yum

 Here we are at Rodezio Brazillian Restaurant in Scheveningen enjoying lovely cachaca cocktails. We went with our Brazilian friends. The food was very tasty, not as good as when you are in Brazil, but close enough for Europe.

After many months of trying, Islay finally made it to the top of our screens. And once she got there, she didnt know how to get back down again....

We went to Cologne, Germany for Jamie's birthday. I don't know why we hadn't gone earlier. We both love Cologne. I found a really awesome hotel to stay in called Antik Bristol Hotel. Every room has antique furniture from a different period. I told them it was Jamie's birthday and they gave us the honeymoon suite! It was amazing.

 This is a church with a room full of bone decorations in Cologne.
 Creep-tastic.

Islay tried to climb inside our packing cubes while we were packing to go to England. I think she wanted to join on the adventure.







We went to England at the end of the month for Jamie's older brother's wedding. They had a small ceremony at the registrar's office and then a reception. It was a chilly and windy day but also super sunny and bright - a bit strange for England in autumn.

So bright! Too much sun!

because i worry a lot and over-think everything

I've been on my blog a lot recently messing with the layout and i realized that i use it mostly as a sort of journal of things i dont mind being public. But in my photographic tour of 2012 i've been posting pictures of people without even asking.

Is that a "no-no"? Should i ask?

I'm not sure very mane people are reading this but if you happen to read my blog and i've posted your picture and you want it down totally tell me and it's done.

Or maybe I'm just over-thinking as usual and worrying over nothing? I'm very very good at finding new things to worry about.

August 2012 in pictures

Since I've been posting quite a bit lately (for me) I have decided that I dont like the look of my blog. So i'm experimenting with different layouts/fonts/cover picts/etc. I'm not sure that enough people actually read this blog to notice, but in case that you are out there and wondering what's up - that is the explanation.

I also noticed that I dont seem to post anything of substance anymore. Just pictures and random captions. Probably it's because things are not so great and I bitch enough in real life about them that if anyone is reading this who knows me might be so sick of all the depressing diatribe. Science is hard. Getting a PhD is hard. Northern European winters are dreary and depressing. It's gray and raining for an unbelievable amount of time in the Netherlands. I get a lot of migraines. I dont get a lot of sleep. I'm a grumpy-grumpatron. If science was easy, everyone would do it. I'm contemplating how much longer I can deal with academic science and I'm not even that far along in the game. I guess going back to school when you are older is a bit tougher. Long hours are a young persons game. A young person who doesnt have chronic headaches.

So there is some substance. Back to the cat pictures!

Islay discovered that she could watch birds out of our window. 
We call it her TV.

Awwww

This stuff is great!

We bought her some cat grass at a local pet shop and she absolutely Loved it. Too bad she ate too much (every damn time) and vomited. Considering that she was quite the sickly kitten we took the grass away from her after the 2nd vomiting episode - we really didnt need any more sickness and vomiting than she was already having due to teething.

One of her favorite things to do at this time was to crawl into tiny s

paces in shelves and such, push whatever was there out, and take a nap. 

Here she is after pushing out knitting stuff.   

  

Another favorite activity is to tackle the laundry bags and tip them over 
so that they can become forts. Cats love forts!

Sleeping on feet and legs! It's awesome! 

July 2012 pictures

So many pictures to choose from! So many blurry pictures of a kitten that just wouldnt stay still. And hates cameras. Like a new mom, I had to have a picture of everything. Too bad we coulnt ever recreate any of the pictures so we could get a sense of scale of her growing.

Jamie made an origami samurai hat and we put it on Islay while she slept. She was a bit confused when she woke up.

She doesnt really cuddle with us like this much anymore. We hope its a teenager phase.

She fit in a small size shoebox. So cute. 

Jamie's parents came to visit (staying in a hotel down the block) and even though the weather was cold and rainy we went to the botanical gardens anyway. The nicest parts were indoors - like the butterfly house. 

We bought Islay a stuffed bird to kill - and we thought she'd died of happiness when we gave it to her. She still occasionally "kills" it. She does this hilarious thing where she pretends to walk away from her kill while keeping her foot on it, then she turns around and kills it some more. 

 She fells asleep like this one night on Jamie's legs. We had a hard time staying still we were laughing so hard.

She loves cuddling feet. Still does. Strange cat. 

June 2012 in pictures

Ok, back to this picture thing. I will finish this. I will.

June was a big month for us. After many months of begging, presenting all the pros, and debating the cons, I convinced Jamie that we should get a kitten. The problem was, we couldnt find one! Finally after a couple weeks we found one on Marktplaatz and we picked her up. We had a choice between her and her stripey-tiger-looking sister, but sister was terrified of us. Our little kitten nestled up to me immediately and didn't want to let go. So basically, she chose us. She was born on April 13, 2012; she was 7 weeks old when we brought her home.

Here she is sleeping in her carrier shortly after we got her home.
We named her Islay (pronounced eye-la or ay-la)

This is her on my pillow after she came out of hiding on her first morning with us. I found out pretty quickly that she hates cameras and especially flashes. 

When she finally got comfortable with us she liked to sleep on our laps or snuggle her way behind our back and sleep there. She also slept snuggled in between us at night - she was the middle spoon.

We didn't know it at the time, but she was sick this weekend. Here she is 2 days before her first vet visit, 2 days before we discovered she was not the healthiest little kitten. 

Oh and also, our amaryllis bloomed again. This time with 4 flowers!

Like all cats she loves paper bags

We had a giant cardboard box that we used as a kitten playpen. Such a tiny little thing with her ping pong ball and mousie. 

Always trying to catch or capture my camera - probably so I'll stop taking pictures of her. 

And she loved to kill and wrestle the carrot we got her from Ikea. Gotta eat those veggies!

May 2012 in pictures

Getting a bit behind in my photo wrap-up of 2012. Or maybe it 's just that i was avoiding blogging about the month that I turned the dreaded 3-0. Still pretending to be "over" it. I guess we all have to deal with the inevitable. Since I started off discussing the birthday, lets get on with the pictures of the birthday.
We were crammed into a tiny part of one of my favorite bar/restaurants here in Utrecht (Cafe Olivier) so I could only get a picture of the whole group (that remained by 23:00) by taking two pictures.

Among other awesome gifts, Jamie bought me these chocolate brains skulls

Lots of other things happened besides my birthday. For instance, I finished the blanket for my nephew:

Also our amaryllis bloomed: