Shayna's Snapchats

Shayna has the luxury of having data of her phone while we travel around Europe (she'll regret it later with the kind of service she'll be getting in Marin).

I would just to take a moment and to point out how she chooses to spend her gift of data. She spends her phone time of snapchat, sending me photos of me. Just of me, just to me. And she livens them up a bit with some scribbles. I do not know why she does this.

She sends me pictures. Of me. That she takes. Without my knowledge. And scribbles on. In an app. And proceeds to send them to me and only me. 

I really don't know why...

Long Car Day

We take a break from our regularly scheduled knitting to bring you this blog post

Most of the day today will be spent in the car. 

I’m excited.

We’re driving now from Dormy House to Gravetye Manor in Sussex. Saturday afternoon (July 4), we board the cruise ship for our Icelandic cruising adventure. It’s going to be amazing. 

Warning: Video uses a very generous amount of profanity. Watch at your own discretion.

To sum it up without the expletives:

That being said, I’m not sure about the Internet availability (if it exists, which it probably doesn’t), so you may only receive shortly worded one-liners typed on an iPhone keyboard written in line at the only coffee shop that has free Wi-fi in a Icelandic town with no vowels in its name. But that’s just a guess.

With love from the UK roads,

Rebecca "Rivi" Dollinger

My Alternate Ancient Roman Identity

If I had to live in this ancient time, I do believe this magical water pool would be a lovely location to spend my mornings, bathing in the sunlight and warm water. I must say, I think I would make a lovely Roman Empress. Empress of Everything—that would be my title. My official Roman title, perhaps completed with a flower crown made of gold leaves. I suppose I could enchant that life.

The Roman City of Bath

Summary of the Day

The family took a day trip visiting and exploring around the City of Bath. It was about an hour and a half drive from our hotel, which meant a lot of knitting time of me, homework time for Shayna, podcast time for dad, and sleeping for Ima. Luckily, we have a driver here (Ryan "the magnificent"), so none of the drivers of the family-- okay, so dad-- have to navigate British driving and navigation. 

The ancient Roman city Bath is an ancient bathing place where hot water rises from the ground to create a warm bathing pool. This was considered unexplainable to the Romans, who declared it a home of the god Suris Minerva, and continued on to worship their gods by these magical healing waters and present sacrifices to the divine powers. They then built temples and structures surrounding the bath to formally honor this hot ground water. 

#100Things that Make Me Happy List

About the summer trip so far,

In no particular order:

1. Ima/Mom/Marci and her celebration of 50 years since being born.

2. Shayna

3. Dad

4. England

5. Getting the chance to visit Iceland, a place that has been on our dream destinations list for a while now

#100Things that make me happy

#100Things that make me Happy (about this trip so far)

I got this idea from a YouTube video and I thought it was really great. 

My Day in Lists: Windsor Castle

June 28, 2015

Top Ten Reasons Windsor Castle Would Make a Great Location for my Future Destination Wedding:

1. It’s a castle.

Bliss

You spend the day walking through countless castles, in rain and shine, in gardens and corridors, on trains and in vans. You arrive at your next hotel, Dormy House, where you will be staying for the next four nights. You speak eloquently and elegantly, feeling like you stepped out of a late 19th century dream. You are lead to your room, a spacious suite with a full living room, rain shower, metal bath tub (more on that later), two fluffy twin beds, two televisions with internet capabilities, and views of the sunset and countryside. 

Can We Guess What Period In History You Actually Belong In?

I got Elizabethan England!

Different and the Same: June 27, 2015 (London)

Theme: Different and the Same (Post where I note the unique places and experiences that day as well as things that reminded me of home)

Different: We spent the day touring, exploring different facets of London, many that we had never seen before.

The Same: Spent the day exhausted, trying to muddle our way through another incredible vision of another exciting adventure.

IT'S LONDON BABY

Some days I'm Chandler.
Some days I'm Joey.
There is no in between....

The British Museum

Wow! What a grand collection of artifacts! I am blown away. I must document this. I take my art history VERY seriously 

London Day 1: My Day in Lists (On the Hour)

Sleep quality (according to my sleep cycle app): 57%

1:00 am: Fall asleep after multiple relaxing music playlists, two drinks of water, and no melatonin supplement pills.

1:30 am- 4 am: Sleep very deeply.

4:30 am: Wake up for some unknown reason. Experience much difficulty falling back to sleep. Adjust room temperature. Regret not taking the melatonin. Drink a full glass of water. Crawl back in bed. Shift around a lot. Play the NY Times Crossword Puzzle App on nearby iPhone. Get up. Drink more water. Get back in bed. Watch "Feminist Frequency" on YouTube with earbuds. Think about feminism in pop culture. Eat a fresh peach from the bowl near the television. Try and fix the sink that won't drain. Get back in bed. Play Candy Crush saga. Think about life. Count backwards from 400 by threes.

Millennium Bridge: Oh, the places you'll knit!

London Heathrow Airport

Arrived in London after a nine hour plane ride. I'm tired, hot, and tired. Now we get the glorious fun of waiting in lines...

Oh the Places You'll Knit: Central Park Carosel

Newark Airport

We arrived here and got through security and baggage very quickly-- we are officially on our way to London!

(Com)Passion: Feminism

Today's Theme: (Com)Passion: Causes and issues I am passionate about

Marci and Shayna went to meet a friend from American Jewish World Service for breakfast. Thankfully, they let me sleep, and dad woke me up around 10 am. I ate a leftover wrap from last night's dinner (which was just Shayna and me going down the street to a salad place) and watched Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Dad ended up watching with me, and throughout the day, we have had many fantastic discussions about what it means to be an advocate and/or a feminist.

Oh the Places You'll Knit!

I'm starting a new tag on this blog "Oh the Places You'll Knit". Pretty self-explanatory. It'll be pictures of me knitting in different places...

Themes

The plan: Every day will have a different theme from my list of themes. The original plan was to change it every week or 4 days, but my dad pointed out that it might work better to use the themes as according to how the day goes. The excitement will still be there (changing up the themes), but it will resonate better with what the day's plans and events end up being.