July 16th

Here's a few pictures looking back at July 16th in 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, and 2005. Amazingly only one of these pictures was taken on a different day, and that was the 17th. However, I decided not to go back any further. 2004 has the 18th as the closest day, and there was one picture from July in 2003 (23rd) and no pictures in July 2002.

2009- England
Bolton Abbey. We also went to Skipton Castle that day.

2008- Maine
Scottish Highland Games in Brunswick. We stopped on our way to Acadia.

2007- Belmont
I had just gotten a new camera lens and was testing it out on the plants in the garden.

2006- Cow Parade
This is the Trojan Cow. IT was located in South Station. I spent two Saturdays roaming around Boston trying to get pictures of all of the cows (approximately 100 of them, if I remember correctly).

2005- Philadelphia
Aunt Ethel's funeral. She had numerous scarves and Chris was displaying them and offering them to anyone who wanted any.

Trying not to overplan....

Done

• Flights booked
  
• T in the Park tickets purchased
  
• Reserved tent, sleeping bags, etc for T in the Park
• Hotel in Edinburgh booked
• Hotel in Horton-in-Ribblesdale booked
• Hotel in Bingley booked
• Hotel in Maidstone booked
• Hotel in London booked
• English Heritage 2 week membership purchased
• Maps for 3 Peaks of Yorkshire hike purchased
• Guide books and road atlas purchased

To do

• Arrange for cat sitters
• Book rental car
• Book Globe Theatre tickets (decide which show we want to see- Troilus & Cressida, Romeo & Juliet, or As You Like It)
• Decide what are must-see's, maybe-see's, and what can be crossed off the list
• Get adapter so that will be able to use the computer
• Countless other things that my brain can't handle right now!

So what's on the list of things for us to see? Yes, I realize this is quite ambitious for a 16 day vacation.

• T in the Park- booked because of James, but will enjoy 3 days of music.
• Edinburgh Castle
• Nelson's Monument
  
• Holyrood House
• Hadrian's Wall
• The Forbidden Corner
• 3 Peaks of Yorkshire walk/hike
• Bingley, including 5 Rise Locks, Prince of Wales Park, walking along various footpaths....
• East Riddlesden Hall
• Cow & Calf Rock- Ilkley Moor
• Bolton Abbey
• Kirkstall Abbey
• Saltaire
• Skipton Castle
• Harry Ramsden's
• A football match at location to be determined- Chris is in charge of figuring this one out
• Warwick Castle
• Coventry Cathedral
• Hever Castle
• Dover Castle
• Leeds Castle
• Greenwich
• Windsor Castle
• Eton
• Cambridge
• Kew Gardens
• British Museum
• Sir John Soane Museum (not to be confused with the Sloop John B Museum, which is what I keep wanting to call it)
• Millennium Bridge
• Cabinet War Museum
• Platform 9 3/4
• Harry Potter (it opens while we're there)
• Globe Theatre
• Misc other things that I'm sure I'm forgetting or various other things that catch our fancy
  

Mel, you can call me crazy now...

So a week and a half ago when I first mentioned it to Chris, he seemed to think I was crazy. I guess somewhere along the lines I wore him down. Would have been cheaper if he had said yes a week ago though. :)

James is playing at T in the Park in Scotland in July. If I had gotten tickets last week when they first went on sale, we might have just been able to get a ticket for Saturday. However, he didn't approve the purchase a week ago, so tickets sold out, without me getting any. And then yesterday I saw that a limited number was going to be re-released. (Ticketmaster had a limit on how many could be purchased, so these were some of those extras now going to the public, etc.) No mention though of how many tickets, what types, etc.

Tickets were going back on sale at 10 am. 10 am UK time, 5 am in Boston. Blech. I dutifully set my alarm for 4:30. For those of you who know me, I HATE mornings. But I was even semi-awake before my alarm went off. Hit snooze a couple of times and got up.

First I tried for tickets for Saturday only. Tried a few times and no luck. Tried for weekend with camping, and found tickets right away. So now we're going for the whole weekend and somehow we have to figure out how to get a tent and other camping gear over there. I guess worst case we skip the camping and find somewhere else in the area to stay, but who knows.

And we all complain about Ticketmaster fees, right? Well the service charge on the tickers and the parking ticket are expected. But for ticket delivery, when purchasing internationally, box office collection is the only option. Why does that cost me £2.25? It's not like they are sending it anywhere. Actually, I gladly would have paid to have the tickets sent to me, but that wasn't an option.

So yeah, we're going to Scotland. Now we need to plan the rest of our vacation. :)

Productive Day

Yesterday I went to a crop. It was scheduled to go from 9-9. I knew that this was way too much time for me, so I figured I would get there around 10, and leave around 7 or 8. Well I got there at 10:45 and left around 5:30. I didn't bring nearly enough to work on, so by that point I was done with what I had brought. Oh well, I still had a productive day.

And then today, I spent some time this afternoon cleaning up my scrap room. Came across lots of things that I didn't remember that I had. Probably have a lot more that I can get rid of as well. Now I have a bunch of things to give away, some to save for a yard sale, and some others to possibly put on eBay.