Teatopia

Sun & sand, here we come!

Tomorrow, we'll be on our way to sunny Florida for the weekend. Can't wait for Olivia to play in the sand. She was only 3 months old the last time we went. Is it sad that I'm looking forward to cooler weather in FLORIDA? Florida is actually cooler than here and we're farther north. The heat index is supposed to be 110 tomorrow. It feels like a sauna here!

home again, home again

First of all, Happy Easter!

Olivia was gorgeous in her purple dress, even if she refused to wear the matching bow in her hair! I distracted her from pulling it out for a while, but as soon as she found it, she tossed it in Daddy's sock drawer and hid it!

Right before she tried to hide it . . .

We had a rare occurace today! Olivia actually stayed in the church nursery without crying and us having to be paged! I'll admit, I haven't been good about putting her in there, and I'm glad I haven't forced it because today she was ready on her own. I felt sad as I left the nursery, sad that she didn't look for me or care that I was gone. It felt whistful to come back and see her playing with the other kids, without me, like she was a big girl. They said the only time she fussed was when another child had a cookie, but once they gave her one, she was fine. :-)

Now for the trip:

I'm amazed at how gorgeous Savannah is! It's so historic and beautiful, and some parts are definitely mysterious and eerie. I very much wanted to go on one of the ghost tours, but it just wasn't feasable with a baby since they are at night.

The food was wonderful. I'm not a seafood person, but I"m proud to say that I ordered fish for the first time in my life (shocking, I know!). I had some yummy mahi mahi, but stuck to land animals the rest of the time. We also visited Tybee Island and we went to The Crab Shack!

I didn't realize just how close we were to South Carolina. Just a bridge away!

I'm glad Sara warned me about not wearing heels. The cobblestone streets are rough and not very stroller friendly, but we still managed to get some shopping done. I even found an awesome tea shop where I picked up some great teas for the next swap!

We look like we have a faceless baby here, when actually, the sun was just so bright! Still creepy though!

I love the classic mossy trees of Savannah!

I'll leave you with a few we shot today.

The loves of my life:

Yes, I need to do something about my hair. The growth post-preggo is so dark! It looks terrible and weird. Anyway, here you go.

Busy, Busy!

Whew! I've been running around crazy all day and this is the first chance I've had to get online! I've been running all around doing last minute things-- buying diapers, new shoes for Olivia, more dog food, writing instructions for my friends who are dog sitting (love them!), stocking up on yummy snacks for the car, and PACKING, PACKING, PACKING! James has a ton of homework to finish before we go, and also an online quiz, so I've been on my own tonight. He said he didn't understand why I was so stressed out about all the packing. It's hard work to pack everything for a baby. I had her suitcase closed and realized I hadn't packed any of her socks. And then I forgot her Beechnut banana cookies (don't even want to think about 3 days without those!), and then I remembered I needed to pack a bag of toys. And then I forgot to wash her bathing suit! It's a lot of work! Luckily, she didn't put up a fight tonight when it came to bed time. She fussed while I was showering, and as soon as I got out, she tugged at my shirt, nursed, and went right off to sleep!

I also took some time to make dinner for my friend Ben and his man so they could come over and see what to do for the dogs while they house eit. I made potstickers, which I've posted about before. I made the filling in advance and froze it, so I didn't have to worry about preparing that tonight, but I did fold 50 wontons by hand, make fried rice, and I threw some frozen egg rolls in the oven. Yum! I forgot to take pictures because we ate it up so fast. Also, we started dinner kind of late because Ben was just getting back into town this evening from-- guess where? Savannah! He went with my dear friend Rebebba, and from what I hear, it sounds great! Rebecca has great taste, so I'm going to check out some of the places they went. We had a nice chat during dinner, and Olivia decided to make a big poop, so we had to listen to pushing and grunting, which of course made everyone laugh! BTW, Ben's b/f is a hottie. I'm married and he's gay, so it's safe that I say so. :-) BTW, I told James that for payment for them house sitting, I promised them a threesome with James. HAHA! I crack myself up. James wasn't so amused even though he likes them a lot.

As promised, I want to leave you with my instructions for how to make James' mom's coconut dream cake. I've posted about it before, but I'm not sure if I ever showed you the method. It might be in my archives, but I'm too lazy to check!

First, bake a cake according to the directions. When it's done, immediately poke lots of holes in it, like this!

You should end up with a lot of holes!

Pour a can of coco lopez and a can of condensed milk into the holes. I'm not usually this messy when I do it, but the coco lopez was more solid than usual, so I had to give it a good shake, resulting in a mess. But it all soaks in eventually!

After it sits in the fridge a couple hours, ice it with cool whip and top with toasted coconut. Heavenly! We had the leftover tonight!

On the exercise front, I am about to takeover as organizer for our stroller exercise in my moms' group! It means I have to go to all of them, which is good! Oh, and today, the girl working at Victoria's Secret told me how good I looked after having a baby. And she said it twice. Yippppeee! Still need to get off some of the weight I gained pre-pregnancy though. It'll happen, I'm working hard!

Now, for Olivia news and then I really have to go to bed!

Olivia showing off her flute playing skills. She's so very proud everytime she makes a note. It's the cutest thing! I really must learn how to post a video clip from my camcorder!

In the other pictures on the bottom, she's kissing her reflection in the mirror. :-)

Here she is showing off her teeth. I love the gap in the front. Too cute!

Her eyes are so blue!

And last, she's been making this face 100 times a day for the last week, and it's always accompanied by a grunt. LOL!

Ok, off to bed and then to Savannah in the am. May have to make a Starbucks stop. Will be v. tired. If I don't blog while I'm away, I'll be back Saturday night. Leave me some love while I'm away!

Whirlwind Weekend

Several times over the past few years, whe my grandma wasn't doing well from her various knee surgeries and terrible recoveries, I prayed to God she'd see my first child. So, last night, watching Olivia sleep on her as we watched a movie-- it meant so much to me. My grandma loves her so much, and Olivia loves her too. She's a big help to me, as is all my family since James is gone a lot. I know my grandma loved traveling with Olivia this past weekend. She can't walk with Olivia because she uses a cane, but she helps in any other ways she can. I was able to get some unpacking and washing done yesterday when she was here. We went to Panera for dinner to try to new Crispani before coming back to my house to watch "The Constant Gardener", which we both read. And yesterday afternoon, Olivia and I met MF and her baby boy to shop at Target.

So, about our trip! We went to Irvington, VA to see my aunt and uncle (my aunt married him 1.5 years ago, and I just love him!) They moved to this kind of small, gorgeous waterfront town after fleeing the DC area last spring. They have a house on water that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay. They asked us up this past weekend to see Olivia, and for the annual Christmas light show called "Lights on the Creek". People decorate their boats and they have a big contest. Michael (my uncle) took Olivia and I out on the boat earlier in the day, and we saw all the boats getting ready for the show. It was amazing. Olivia did pretty well on the boat. It was cold, but I bundled her up and she did well.

Please excuse my 8 chins. I took this picture, so I was leaning way back. LOL! Anyway, the view from the boat was awesome. Check out this house!

And this view:

Getting ready for the lights show:

The night of the lights show, we ate at the famous Tides Inn where I had a butternut squash and goat cheese ravioli and a white chocolate chip banana bread pudding with butterscotch sauce for dessert. Amazing, amazing food! We ate in front of a window that overlooked the lights show. My uncle joined us late because he is a photographer and was working at the show.

It was a great trip, and we can't wait to go back!

We leave tomorrow!

I should probably be asleep considering we have to get up in 6 hours to head to the airport. I just finished packing. Whew!

Of course, aunt Flo decided to show up tonight. I think I've had my period on every trip I've been on, ever (except when I was pregnant/post-partum).

I'm excited, but there's something I'm kind of sad about. Tomorrow will be the first day my mom hasn't seen Olivia since she was born. I know it's silly. I should be thankful to have my mom here. I don't know anyone else whose mom is able to help so much. My mom has seriously seen Olivia every single day. I just feel sad that we're breaking the trend.

I'm a little worried about traveling with Olivia in general. I'm going with my grandma, but she can't walk and hold Olivia, so I'm kind of on my own.

And one of my biggest worries: Olivia is getting worse and worse about sleeping. I'm starting to wonder if something is wrong. I know babies can revert back to waking up a lot when they are teething or sick, but she does it all the time, no matter what. She's up every 2-3 hours at night, takes forever to fall asleep. Usually she screams for a while because she's just so tired, but can't fall asleep. She never naps more than 15 minutes, and never more than a couple times a day, if that. It's as if the mechanism in your body that help you fall sleep is just missing in her. I can't explain it. I've tried everything, and of course, everyone thinks they know what it is. "Have you tried cereal before bed" Uh huh. "Give her a warm bath to calm her down" Done that. We've also tried stimulating her to wear her out. Nothing works. She has dark circles under her eyes all the time. I'm beginning to think something's wrong. And I'm dreading the night-wakings (and the screaming) while at someone else's house this weekend.

I have a question for the moms who are still nursing. Now that your babies are eating food, how often do they nurse? I'm worried Olivia sometimes goes too long between feedings.

I'll try to blog while I'm away.

We're having a wonderful time!

We are having a blast down here in Destin, Florida. Let me see if I can remember everything we've done!

One of the highlights of the trip has been outlet shopping, especially at the Carter's outlet store. We bought a good deal of Olivia's winter wardrobe. My mom bought a bunch of things for her too. I'll have to post pictures of some of the clothes later.

I visited the Magnolia & Ivy Tearoom and although it was beautiful and had nice gifts, I wasn't too impressed. It seemed really pretentious, decorated with Louis Vuitton bags, yet on their small a la cart menu of only 8 or so items, they were out of all 3 that I tried to order. They also forgot to put an item that I purchased in the bag, and debated with me when I called them later to ask about it. They ended up finding the item by their register when I called again later.

Last night, we ate at the most fabulous seafood restaurant ever. It was called The Crab Trap and our table overlooked the Gulf of Mexico. Olivia was so good (as always) and loved the sea breeze blowing on her face as we ate. The crabs were so fresh and yummy!

Today we went to the Tropical Smoothie Cafe . It reminded me so much of a place in Cape Town called Naturally Kauai, which I figured out we ate at exactly one year ago today! We also shopped and walked around. I bought 2 silver charms for my charm bracelet. I actuallY started a charm bracelet of things that remind me of Olivia. My mom bought me a small baby carriage charm with a small pink stone on it for Christmas, and I have a small silver locket with her picture, and today I bought a small, silver elephant to remind me of where she was conceived, and I also purchased a sand dollar charm for her first trip to the beach. I am obsessed with my daughter, can't you tell? :-)

We just finished swimming in the pool here at the house, and now James, Olivia and I are going out for crabs again!

Being here makes me sad that we don't go out more at home . . .

To Do List

I have sooooo much to do before our trip to Destin, Florida this Saturday. I really took for granted how easy it was to travel without children, but I know this year is going to be 100 times better because Olivia is there!

Still do to before we leave:
> pack, pack, pack! I have about a gazillion things written down to pack for Olivia. I need to get it through my head that she doesn't need her entire nursery, but I can't seem to cross anything off the list!

> Buy snacks and drinks for the car (it's a tradition to bring combos and drinks for the ride)

> Figure out how the heck to fold up the pack 'n play

> Get together with my friend B to give him a key and instructions for the our dogs

> maybe, possibly get a pedicure (like that'll happen)

> Try on bathing suits and vito the ones that just won't do anymore (probably all of them except one I know still fits)

> Get waxed (like that'll happen either!)

I am really anxious to have a break. Being a SAHM is hard, but awesome. I am so sick out this awful heat and humidity here and look foward to better temperatures!

A plea to my South African friends

It's gone. My special keychain with the South African flag on it is lost. James remembers dropping my keys the other day and thinks it might've fallen off then. He even went back to the parking lot where they fell, but it wasn't there. I am sad. I collect keychains from where I've been and this one was my favorite.

Please, my few SA friends who read this blog: If you see a keychain anywhere that represents South Africa, would you get it for me? I promise to send you ANYTHING your heart desires from the US. (Am I enticing you at all?) Don't go out of your way, but if you happen to see one, I'd really appreciate it. I am obsessed with your country and I need another keychain for my collection.

A Solitary Penguin

I have been pretty tired (pregnancy stuff and "Back to School night 'til 9:00 last night), so I don't have a lot to say. So, I leave you with this picture I took in South Africa.

Sneak Peak

I will put up a link soon to all our pictures, but for now, here is James and I in a couple of gorgeous places in South Africa. The first is in Blythe Canyon and the second is in my favorite city in the world, Cape Town.

Greetings from South Africa!

I know I am waiting until 2 days before we arrive home to post, but it's been difficult to find the time to actually find an internet cafe and sit down to type! We are having the time of our lives! Right now I'm in Johannesburg.

I have never loved a place as much as I love South Africa. Cape Town has to be my favorite city in the whole world (and I've been to New York, Paris, London, Toronto, Rome, Seoul, etc). Because I don't have a lot of time, here are some of the highlights so far:

-- meeting Michelle in Cape Town. Michelle was so sweet and fun to be with. I can't wait to see her again because I will be back!

-- James bought me a tanzanite ring for our annivesary next week. It's hard to describe, so I'll wait 'til I can post a picture.

-- dining on the waterfront in Cape Town and watching the boats and all the lights. Beautiful!

-- Seeing the movie "In My Country". I wanted to see this movie about South Africa before we left, but didn't, but it was so much more incredible seeing it here.

-- staying in a tree house sort of hotel where monkeys come in and out of the hotel. One even knocked on the door of a woman in our group and when she answered, he ran in and stole her lunch!

-- the safaris! We saw lions, elephants, giraffes, warthogs, leopards, zebras, antelope, hippos, baboons, rhinos, and more! Oh, and no mosquito bites so the worrying over pills (which I didn't take) was for nothing!

-- visiting a beach where there were tons of penguins. They are so cute when they walk!

-- touring Nelson Mandela's former house.

-- the food! I have eaten way too much!

I of course will be posting gazillions of photos when we return, but for now I wanted to say hello and that I miss you guys. In spite of the fun I am having, I miss blogging. I have so much to tell that I'm worried I won't remember everything. I feel so blessed to have had this experience. South Africa has spoken to me. I feel like it has become a part of me and James and I both agreed we could move to Cape Town. We even picked up some guides to purchasing property, just ot think about it. It's going to be mighty hard to go back to Georgia after this, but I will have some amazing memories, and there are some other nice things to look forward to, which I am going to keep you in suspense of until I know more. :-)

I can't wait to share more. We have a farewell dinner to go to now because we leave tomorrow evening, so bye for now!

Bon Voyage

Dear Friends,

Thank you for the warm wishes. I want to also thank you for listening to my plans and questions and worries over the last several months. I can't believe the day is here. I will miss you all (and blogging in general), but I will try my hardest to find and internet cafe or something. I look forward to reading your comments when I return. I'll post tonight from NYC and probably tomorrow before we take off for Senegal and then South Africa. I can't believe I am finally visiting the country that called to me years ago.

Ciao!

Love,
Hannah

The Chinese Are Wise

Wow! I never thought I'd see the day. ONE day to go! :-) This picture above is of the fortune I received recently at a Chinese restaurant. How cool is that?

Thank you for your sweet comments yesterday. I am feeling better emotionally, but I'm pretty crampy. This will be the 3rd time in a row I've had my monthly visitor on a flight. Oh well, better now than on the trip!

We are leaving tomorrow morning, but remember we will be in NYC tomorrow night. We don't actually leave for South Africa until Sunday evening, but for all intents and purposes, the journey begins when we close our eyes tonight. If you'd like to see our itenerary, or refer to it at any time, the link is under "currently" and "enjoying" or you can view it here.

I'll be posting a couple more times before we leave for our main flight to SA and I'll try to get to a computer a few times while we're there. I'm really looking forward to reading your comments.

P.S. Please keep my sister company. She is watching our "children" for us so we can have a nice trip and know that someone is kissing them and giving them as many cookies as we do. She might have gray hair by the time we get back though so please send her some love. Heck, she might even post about my babies and you kind internet folks can leave them sweet messages on her blog while mommy and daddy are riding giraffes. Really, she's an angel for taking care of them. She's so good with animals, always has been.

The List Goes On and On . . .

I have traveled internationally before. but I can't remember ever having so much to do to prepare for a trip. Even when I to Cambridge for a summer semester and then stayed on to travel with friends, I'm telling ya, there wasn't this much to do. And everytime I think I'm about done, bam! I think of 10 more things. Still to do in the 4 days before we leave:

> Go to Target to buy more travel-size toiletries
> Write instructions for my sister who is keeping our dogs (these are our children, so they may be quite detailed) Sorry Meggie! :-)
> Learn how to use our new camcorder so I don't miss any good moments
> Decide what to wear (60's and low 70's during the day, 40's and 50's at night)
> Take stuff to Salvation Army (ok, so that's not for our trip, but I don't want to come home to things I have to do)
> Return my library books
> Pay some bills online that will be due while we're gone (still hoping for more to come in the next few days)
> Get a pedicure
> Clean out the fridge for things that will expire while we're away
> Xerox travel documents/passport
> Pack, Pack, Pack!

Someone Please Take Away My VISA

I am totally using this trip as an excuse to buy everything. I feel so guilty. This trip is costing enough without me buying all these little things on the side.

--Lingerie for romantic South African evenings, $30.

--Furry high-healed shoes to go with, $20. (Yes, I actually bought furry shoes. Are you cringing? I swear I've never bought anything furry before, especially not to wear with lingerie. Was that too much info?) :-)

--Books for reading, $30. (Just how much time do I think I'm actually going to spend reading?).

--DVD's for watching on my long-a$$ flight, $30.

--A travel journal for recording precious memories, priceless.

It All Started with an Airplane

I've had several people ask me in the last week, "Why South Africa?" It's a very valid question, as South Africa is not a common destination for a vacation. So I am going to attempt to put all my dreams and feelings into a good explanation. :-)

First let me say that ever since I was a small child I have been fascinated by anything "foreign" or "cultural". I remember going to ethnic festivals in D.C. in elementary school. I remember looking at the people in their ethnic dress and breathing in the scents of all the food cooking. I started collecting coins from other countries when I was 7 I think it was.

With that said, the truth is, I don't know exactly when I became interested in South Africa. I can say, though, that it all started with a plane. Remember this post? When I was little (I don't remember how little), we were at the airport and I somehow saw a South Africa Airways plane parked out the window. I remember staring at the colors and thinking that any plane colored so brightly must be going somewhere really neat, so whenever I heard anything about South Africa from then on, I remembered my plane. I always look for them each time I'm at an airport. Although I'm not sure this is what did it, I did do a very intense research paper on South Africa in college when I was part of an international program, but it focused mainly on apartheid and I don't remember getting super excited about it.

I really think my interest was sparked about 2 years ago when I found a website listing radio stations from all over the world-- stations that also broadcasted on the web. I was trying to find an exotic one where I could still understand what they were saying, so I went straight for South Africa. From then on, I've read, thought, and dreamed about South Africa.

I love that it's Africa-- tribes, wild animals-- yet I could go over there and live and lead what we Americans think of as a "normal" life. I think it's intersting that white, English-speaking people live in such an exotic place and it's normal to them. I think it's neat that it's so British. Some of my fondest memories are of my semester spent at Cambridge University in England. I also love the European influence.

So there you have it. I hope that made sense! :-)

The On-going Dilemna

Warning: I'll be talking a lot about poop today.

Ok, so here it is: the on-going dilemna that has been bugging me for the last few months. Since I can't decide what to do, I want you kind folks to decide for me.

You remember the crap load of pills and shots I mentioned, right? Well, there's still one more thing I *might* need to take. I have found so many conflicting things about malaria. Many sources say: Yes, it's safe to visit Kruger National Park in the winter because temperatures are cooler and mosquitos are fewer. Besides, if you cover yourself up and use deet, everything should be just fabulous. And then: nope, you should absolutely take an anti-malarial because you could get bitten and poop your guts out and die. Then I heard that the side effects from the anti-malaria drugs are totally worse than taking the risk of possibly contracting malaria. Side effects include: seeing things that aren't there, stomach pain, runny poop, throwing up, and just generally going insane. Soldiers don't call the day they take their anti-malarials "psycho Tuesdays" for nothin'!

So I ask you, what would you do? Should I risk getting infected and just be reeeeealy reeeeeeealy careful or take the pills and risk frequent poo-poo problems and insanity? Hmmmm..... now that's a dilemna!

Oh, and keep in mind that I actually have had malaria before (after taking a jungle tour in Mexico on our honeymoon) and it wasn't THAT bad. Unpleasant and very poopy, yes, but when I started my drugs I felt better. Hey, and you can't foget the 10 pounds I lost in the first week. I may have felt like crap (no pun intended) but I looked great!

Passport Holder

Today I was feeling crafty, so I made this passport holder with a cupcake on it. I wanted something to keep it safe and also hold my immunization records.

I am leaving at 4:45 am to head up to Atlanta for training. I teach for an international program at my school and 14 of us are going up until Thursday. I'll be blogging from my cell phone. I don't really want to go, but I know I'll learn some good stuff. Leave me some love while I'm gone! :-)

More Travel Gadgets

Thank you to those of you who gave me advice about storing my pictures. We had a gift certificate to Best Buy, so we put it towards a 512 meg memory card. We are also borrowing another card from James's work, so even with high resolution we should have room for plenty of photographs.

In other gadget news, I finally got me an MP3 player. Eventhough I initially wanted a pink mini IPod, I decided to go with this 1.0GB one from SanDisk because 1)One AAA battery lasts for 15 hrs and I never have to worry about having to send it back to Apple and 2) It was much cheaper and I'm on a budget here people!

We finally narrowed down what toys we are bringing with us. We are leaving the laptop at home to save space, but we are bringing the portable DVD player, camcorder, and MP3 player. We also ordered a conversion kit for South Afica and Swaziland. We are going to be moving around a bit, so the less we bring, the better!

Mama's Got a Brand Spankin' New Toy

Here's the new camera we got to take on our trip. :-) It's a Panasonic Palmcorder MultiCam MiniDV 2.3MP Camcorder with 2.5" Color LCD Monitor. I'm a happy camper!

The only thing I'm worried about it memory to store photos, as it also functions as a camera. I can't spend a few hundred on memory cards. I also don't want to have to carry a laptop with me on the trip to upload photos. What would you do?

Rhythms

I've been wanting to buy some new shoes for our trip and I absolutely love these cute pink ones from Sketchers. I could wear them with jeans, skirts, or whatever. Lately I seem to really like things that are a little funky. :-)

My Poor Arms

Not only I am sore, but I'm also broke. No, I'm not complaining (well, maybe I am), but seriously, all this money is *so* worth it. This is really a trip of a lifetime so I can expect to be a little broke. I just spent tons of money on medications and vaccines and I haven't even decided on which anti-malaria pills to take which means $100 more I think! Better to be safe than sorry though, right?

Both James and I are getting the series of Hepatitis A & B shots. Hepatitis A is spread through food, so you never can be TOO careful. And eventhough I'm not planning on having sex with anyone in South Africa (except, ahem, the hubby) or sharing any needles, for only $15 more, I could get vaccinated for both, so I thought, why not? Besides, hepatitis is everywhere, so I feel safer I guess.

I also got pills for typhoid fever and a tetanus shot in case I get bit by a wild zebra and the wound becomes infected with tetanus bacteria! LOL! So tonight both arms are sore, so I'm trying to move them, as recommended. So basically, I'm walking around my house swinging my arms and stretching them over my head. It's helping, which is why I better go swing some more! Ciao.

Touring Bag

I'm going to need something more than a purse to carry around stuff on our trip, and by stuff I mean cash, traveler's checks, ID, camera, camcorder, chapstick, sunscreen, bug repellent, map, etc. After gypsies tried to mug me in Rome, I was thankful that I was carrying a zipped bag, so I want something that zips, like this one. Although they are handy, too many outside pockets are not practical when traveling because someone can easily unzip them when you aren't looking, so this bag is both cute and practical!

Travel Journal

At the recommendation of GFF, I ordered this travel journal from Anthropolgie. I love the way it looks-- reminds me of the beach, which is quite appropriate for Capetown. What do you think?

We're Here!

We have arrived in a place where the palm trees are blowing and the sidewalks are made of seashells. Our house isn't quite ready, so the first stop was Magnolia & Ivy, a tearoom in a trendy gated shopping center. I had a glass of iced sweet summer pumpkin tea. Next was this fabulous capri salad and seafood pizza at Roberto's.

We're Really Going!

I had a dream on Friday night that we went to South Africa. If it's as amazing as it was in my dream, we are going to have a good time! In the dream, I was upset though because I had forgotten my music (I have to have my music when I travel). I plan on buying an pink I-Pod for the trip and I couldn't remember if I had forgotten my CD player or I-Pod becuse I wasn't sure if I had ended up getting the I-Pod or not. LOL. But I remember being so happy and when I woke up I was more excited than ever about our trip!

Then the next morning, there was this in my e-mail in-box . . .

Head Up Young Person

I absolutely love this line from "The Object of My Affection" and I have decided to get myself out of this funk and focus on something good like my trip. Because we are going on safari, I must have a hat. You can't go in a safari without a hat, so I started looking online. :-) I really like this one. It's on sale and quite cute I think. It would match anything and it's wide enough to keep the sun and dust out of my face without being big and dorky. What do you think? Should I order it?

Neat Freak

I spent a few hours yesterday organizing all our travel paperwork: all our flight info, itenerary, JFK hotel reservation, forms, etc. I went to Staples and bought a pretty aqua clipboard and some highlighters in assorted colors. I had fun highlighting key info and putting the forms in order. I like doing this type of thing-- organizing, highlighting, taking notes. I always have. In fact, I keep flipping through the paperwork, admiring how organized it all is. I know I am annoying my poor husband. "Honey, look how organized it is now" and "Do you want to see the notes I took when I talked to the travel agent?" Poor man. I can't help it-- it's the teacher in me. :-) I like having things in order. In our house, everything has it's place. I don't like shoes on the floor or dog toys everywhere. Do you consider yourself a neat freak? Does chaos and disaray bother you?

More Travel Plans Confirmed

Yesterday I spent a few obsessive hours trying to book a flight to JFK and back using our frequent flyer miles. The funny thing about redeeming them is that you naturally have a limited selection of flights available and strangely, they seem to change every few seconds. I'd look at a flight that cost 25,000 frequent flyer miles, call James to come see and a minute later it would cost 35,000. So really, it was a race against the clock, not really knowing what I'd find or what it would cost. Finally, last night, I hit the jackpot.

Our flight from JFK to Jo-burg is going to be, let's face it, probably one of the longest, most dreadful flights I've been on. And having a number of layovers between here and JFK is probably going to tire us out before we've even left for the "big" flght, so . . . for lack of a flight that worked for us on the day we needed, we decided to leave the 9th (our flight to Africa is the evening of the 10th). Any free flight was going to have numerous layovers, that's a given, so this way the travel time is broken up. We actually got a good deal. We leave the morning of the 9th from a small airport down the road, fly 30 mins to Atlanta, then to Philly, then to JFK. We arrive in time to check into the Comfort Inn, where we can get a good night's sleep, eat a free deluxe continental breakfast, and then take a free shuttel to the airport around noon. We'll have an early check-in, nose around JFK, and have plenty of time to board around 5:00. That way, rather than being rushed, I can enjoy being excited, look out the window at the colorful South African Airways planes and just enjoy. Also, I won't be going so long without a shower!! Very important! :-)

Thoughts on Travel

A few years ago I spent a summer semester at Cambridge University and then traveled around Europe for a few weeks. It was one of the most amazing summers of my life, and I recorded my thoughts and experiences in a little red leather travel journal. I put ticket stubs from shows, restaurant receipts, and anything else I could fit on it's pages, and then I lost it when we moved here. I have been looking for it ever since. Hopefully, someday I'll find it, although I think I've been through everything tons of times over the last few years.

Anyway, this summer, I'll have the chance to create yet another memoir of my experiences. I didn't keep one last summer when we went to Korea because we stayed so busy, but this trip includes time on the bus, and not-so-late-nights (I was on a tour for young people in Europe), so there will be plenty of time for reflection.

I found this cute pink travel journal online. Pink has been my color of choice lately, so I am thinking of ordering this one. I think as an avid blogger, I will need something to fan the flames while I'm away from my laptop, so this little pink book will have to suffice. :-)

Finally!

We finally got our trip stuff in the mail today. It was so exciting to recieve all the details. It felt so real to see paperwork with our names. I have been obsessively checking the mailbox for weeks! This is truly the dream of a lifetime for me, so it's worth the money we are scrounging to come up with! :-) Right now we are trying to plan our flight to JFK. Let me just say that blackout dates really suck. We have some 60,000 miles traveled with Northwest (James used to travel to Asia all the time), but none of the flights to JFK work for us.

Sadly, last year this tour originated in Atlanta-- perfect! Then they posted the new dates and changed it to NYC. This is going to be a long flight. A few months ago, while reading my South African travel book in bed, I commented to James, "Listen to this . . . the longest flight in the entire world is from JFK to Johannesburg. I am so glad it's out of Atlanta. It works out perfectly for us." Well, what flight do you think we're taking? Yep, our departure city is now JFK and we will be on the world record longest flight ever. Good thing I got that snazzy portable DVD player for my b-day!

And Something Happy . . .

And because my last entry was so negative, here is something that makes me happy. In 107 days (well, maybe a few more counting travel), I will be here. :-)

Yikes!

I just called our travel agent to find out where our tour info was (it hasn't come in the mail) and they had no record of me! After some researching, they found our paperwork, but they didn't have my credit card info. or anything. The girl who I booked it with messed up! Everything is ok now. I payed the deposit, arranged the insurance, and we are back in business, but still . . . If they didn't have such a consistantly excellent record with the Better Business Bureau and Association of Travel Agents I'd be nervous.

The weird thing is . . . I called last week to ask a question and she said "yes, you're packet was sent out" like she was referring to our account or something.

Weird . . . This trip means everything to me and if anything goes wrong I'll freak out!

Luggage

Our trip is months away and I'm already thinking luggage. My mom bought a couple pieces from Atlantic and she's really happy with them. Personally, I was first drawn to it because of the cute, little seahorse logo (silly me), until I realized that it really is a great brand. I was thinking of getting something other than black so my luggage stands out. I have a fantastic HUGE suitacse I took to England when I went to school a few years ago, and the truth is we don't really need more luggage, but I may splurge on a piece or two.

A Dream Confirmed

When I booked our trip to South Africa today it felt like a dream. It did my heart good to have something to smile about when lately I've been feeling a little down. You can check out the itinerary here.

A Break After a Break

My friend Rebecca and I are planning to go to New Orleans for Jazz Fest. It'll be after spring break, so I'll still have something to look forward to for the rest of the year. The kids will be nuts after spring break and I know I'll need this weekend get-away! Rebecca is from New Orleans and has wanted to take me for the past couple years and we are FINALLY going this year! The reservations have been made at the Omni Hotel in the French Quarter. I am thinking sidewalk cafes with croissants and coffee . . .

Memories of England

Today's Daily Candy is about England, a place near and dear to my heart. When I was 19 and a sophomore in college, I spent a summer semester studying in England at Cambridge University on scholarship. I went as part of a scholars program I was in for my first two years of college. It was one of the best summers of my life.

Contrary to popular belief, Cambridge is not just one university, but rather a number of smaller colleges making up the name Cambridge Unviersity. I attended Gonville and Caius where I took classes on Elizabethan England and the British Education System, both perfect for my English/History teacher degree. The professors were awesome.

My time in England is something I think about often because it was kind of a turning point between being a kid and an adult. I grew so much. I took crazy trips to London after school and would come back hours before my morning classes. I got a friend and I to Paris with no reservations and no directions. (yes, I was nuts). We just took off-- a taxi here, oh! look a bus!, then on a train for a bit, walked a few miles, etc. It was terrifying and exhilirating all at the same time.

I think now, besides when I travel, I lead an ordinary life. I am an English teacher, living in a somewhat, small, country town-- completely different from where I grew up (Washington, D.C.). I have 2 dogs, a house, family close by that I've never lived more than 10 minutes from, we both drive Saturns. I'm pretty "normal." I like to remember my adventures. I hope to have more of them, but it's of course harder as an adult. I suppose if/when we move to Korea, another adventure will come, but for now, I have my memories. :-)

Here is a picture of the 25 people in my scholars program (sorry it's so small-- I'm in the back). We are standing outside of the dining hall in Cambridge.