I made it!

I'm in India, I'm alive, and I just have to say, it is so nice to see Andy. This country is definitely, um, interesting, to say the least. I have long blog posts, but they'll have to wait until I get back to the States, because this Internet thing has not been easy to find.
Stay tuned...

I'm off!

I'm all packed and ready to go. This is what I have to look forward to...

I won't have my phone with me, so check the blog and I'll try to update.

The Stench of a Pirate

Our friends Sam and Denver have five kids - four boys (Colton, Jonas, Preston, and Adam) and one girl (Morgan). They were dear friends before Andy left, and now they have become a kind of surrogate family for me. The kids want to invite me pretty much everywhere, much to Denver and Sam's chagrin, I'm sure. I sure do enjoy them, and am so grateful for their friendship.

Tonight we went to see their second oldest, Jonas, in his school musical production of The Stench of a Pirate. Argh! Who's not up for a good pirate story, especially one with a character named Six Fingered Sally and a pirate baby named Sharkie?

Jonas was quite the master swordsman in his debut swordfight - I think he'd give Captain Jack Sparrow a run for his money! Here he is in the front, wearing a blue and white baseball shirt and a red bandana.

Shiver me timbers!

How many To Do lists can one girl have?

There are few things I love more in life than a full To Do list and an empty day to fill up with running errands. Call me crazy, but I love having things to do and then getting them done.

This week has certainly been the mother of all To Do lists. I guess planning a two-week trip to a foreign country within only a couple of weeks can create a lot of stuff that must get done. I leave Saturday afternoon, which only gives me a few more days to get through the staggering list of about 50 items. The tough part is that I'll get something done, cross it off, and then think of something else to add to it, so it never really gets any shorter.

Between getting everything ready for India (laundry, shopping, pre-paying bills, cleaning the house, packing, um actually planning the trip and making reservations - the list goes on and on) and working, I haven't had much time to create a list, let alone check things off.

I'm super excited about this trip though. While it will be cool to visit India and see some interesting places, I have certainly missed Andy, and am so looking forward to seeing him. How can one and a half weeks without him feel like one and a half years?

The only crummy part about going on this trip is knowing that I have to come home and be without him for five weeks. It hasn't been too bad so far, because I've known that I get to see him after being gone only two weeks. Coming home is definitely going to be tough, and not just because of the 15 hour flight from Delhi to Chicago...

International night at the Ocasios

When I was first dating Andy, I was quickly introduced to all of his many friends - I can't even count how many friends Andy has! One of the things I just love about them is that they all care about each other so much. It has been really great to get to know them, and has been absolutely wonderful that they have been so welcoming to me, especially now that I'm here alone. It makes being away from my family okay, because with all of our friends, I feel like I have a family here.

Our friends Joey and Anna (or is it spelled Ana - I actually don't know) invited me to dinner and Family Home Evening tonight. Joey and Andy were great friends as kids, and I'm so impressed that they have stayed close over the years. I always enjoy spending time with Joey, Anna, their daughter Alicia, and their newest addition, Maya.

In honor of my upcoming trip, they decided to have an Indian celebration, and in honor of my recent birthday, they made it an Indian birthday celebration. Their friend Jill was there to celebrate with us.

We all wore Indian-inspired clothing, and all the girls had red dots on our foreheads. We had Indian food from a local restaurant, and then began the Indian birthday celebration.

According to Joey, when a child turns one In India, his head is shaved, and he has his first taste of solid food on his birthday. Then there is a tray of goodies that a trusted person passes out to all the party attendees.

Thankfully, Joey and Anna decided not to make me shave my head, but they did give me a nylon to wear over my hear, so it looked like I had shaved my head. They served me Haagen Daas ice cream in Alicia's special princess tea set, and I had little Alicia hand out chocolates to all the party attendees. We also listened to an Indian happy birthday song. They gave me the Juno soundtrack (perfect choice - this happens to be one of my favorite movies as of late), and they also gave me the only birthday card that said happy birthday in Hindi - janam din ki badhai to me! It was quite the international fete.

Here I am in their lovely chair and ottoman. I smeared my red dot when I put on my nylon "hat." Jill said I looked like a cross between a little Indian child and Yoda, thanks to the nylon pushing my ears out. After looking at the picture, I think I have to agree with her.

Thanks Joey and Anna for being such great friends and celebrating my birthday and trip to India!

It is April, right?

It started lightly snowing last night, and this is what I woke up to this morning.

It was 70 degrees on Monday, 80 degrees on Tuesday with forest fires close to Colorado Springs.

Then we got three inches of snow on Wednesday, it will be 50 degrees on Thursday, and 70 degree weather is predicted for Friday! The first time I moved here, everyone said Colorado had interesting weather, but I have to say, I've never experienced the weather to be this extreme.

I really hope it warms up soon and stays that way!

Goodbye

Andy left today for his trip to India.

After all the hoopla, the last-minute purchases, packing, tears (definitely on my end), and hugs and kisses, I dropped him off at the airport and drove away.

Goodbye, Andy. Even though I will see you in two weeks, you will most definitely be missed. And loved. And prayed for.

Flowers on my birthday

Andy sent me these "flowers" from San Francisco. Can you believe this beautiful field of irises? I've never seen one before.

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good birthday. My friend Gaylinn took me to lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant, and then I went to dinner with our friends Chris & Barb.

We went to a hibachi restaurant, which was quite the show! Chris was the only one who managed to catch the broccoli in his mouth that the hibachi chef flipped over at him. Both Barb and I missed.

I received so many cards and phone calls from all of you - thank you so much for thinking of me on my birthday! I would not have thought that I could have such a great day, despite the fact that Andy was not here to enjoy it with me.

Happy birthday to me

Today is my birthday. I have never really enjoyed my birthday. Well, at least not since I've been an adult. For some reason, I get grouchy and irritable, and just blah. This year I was prepared for the same emotions, and a couple of times last week I felt them coming on. Especially with how stressful things have been at our house, and knowing Andy would be gone on my birthday, I was sure the Birthday Grumps were inevitable.

Thank heaven for husbands. I knew I married the best guy. Andy planned such a fun birthday weekend, I couldn't have asked for anything better. Unfortunately, because we're not great at taking pictures, I only have a couple to show for all of it. Forgive my pathetic photography; maybe I need to take a photography class while Andy's away.

Friday night we went to The Melting Pot, where a dozen red roses were waiting for me at our table. Since some of my favorite foods are cheese, bread, and chocolate, Andy chose wisely. The dinner was unbelieveable - I had no idea I loved lobster cooked fondue-style, but I was hooked! And the Oreo-covered arshmallows dipped in white and dark chocolate fondue were amazing.

Saturday night he threw me a birthday party. I jumped on the bandwagon and decided to make it a Birthday/Bon Voyage party for Andy and made some Indian-inspired food - hummus & pita, curried chicken salad sandwiches, chicken tikkas (which were gone in about 10 minutes), eggplant & roasted red pepper dip with veggies, and fruit salad. We had about 30 people over playing cards and Wii games, and the only picture I have to show for it is this lonely piece of birthday cake that my friend Sam made for me. It sure was delicious - thanks Sam for the yummy cake!

Thanks also to my family and friends who mailed cards, e-cards, invited me to birthday dinners and lunch, and sent general well wishes sent out into the universe. I am so blessed with such wonderful people in my life! It makes turning another year older almost bearable.

Delightful Dan

It's so rare that I love a movie and the soundtrack, so imagine my joy when I finally watched Dan in Real Life. What a delight!

While I didn't love all the characters (Juliette Binoche's character was a little unlikeable and disappointing), the music for this movie just made it so joyful. Sondra Lerche and other artists created the music, and it's fun, it's light, it's quirky, and some of the songs just make you want to bounce!

Steve Carrell was loveable as the awkward, sad, Dan looking for love and trying to keep his family going after the death of his wife. This is a move I highly recommend - it's laugh out loud funny in spots, a little bit sad in others, and heartwarming throughout.

I think I'll just go back to bed

Today was one of those days where I should have just stayed in bed. For starters, Andy was leaving for San Francisco. I wasn't too excited about that. When I drove him to the airport, we decided that I'd go inside and wait with him to check in - this was nice because I got to prolong saying goodbye. On my way back to the car, I somehow didn't see the pile of vomit someone had left right next to my car, and stepped right in it. Um, yeah - I was wearing flip flops.

After I paid for parking, I was turning out of the lot and a woman started walking in front of me, so I stopped short. Then she very vigorously waved me through, so I started driving, and as I turned, my turn signal got caught on my purse straps. I didn't even know it was possible, but I snapped my turn signal clean off. It was hanging by a wire, and as I pulled into my driveway, it finally fell off.

Here it is in my hand:
And here is where it's supposed to go:
Guess who's calling the dealership tomorrow? Darn Saabs can only be fixed at the dealership, at a premium price - yay. And to top it all off, when I got home from the airport, my garage door would only open halfway. Good thing our friend Denver was there to fix it! His wife Sam said I should just go back to bed and start the day over. Ah, if only that was an option.

Sam and Denver have five kids ranging in ages from 2 - 12: Colton, Jonas, Preston, Morgan, and Adam. The one thing that made my day okay was having them over for conference and a rousing game of Hand & Foot (which Denver and I finally won - hooray!). Preston drew this great picture for me, probably so I could remember what Andy looks like.

Thanks Denver, Sam, and kids for cheering me up!

Maiden voyage!

Andy is officially a blogger!

He wanted to keep everyone up to date while he's traveling. I guess technically I'll be doing the posting, but he'll send me pictures and info he wants posted.

So, if you feel like reading about his trip, check him out.

It's April Fool's - who's up for a little tomfoolery?

In college, my roommates and I played jokes on our neighbors. We taped their door shut one night and they couldn't get out the next morning (don't ask me how packing tape held a metal door shut, but it did). They retalliated by removing all the food from our pantry, and I think we went up there and dyed all their individual gallons of milk different colors. Ahh...blue milk. And of course, there's always the classics - Saran Wrap on the toilet, Kool-Aid in the showerhead, cups filled with water covering the floor while someone sleeps. I don't really dream up elaborate April Fool's schemes anymore, but I do enjoy hearing about others'.

One in particular I read about today especially made me laugh. In 1977, members of Britain's Guardian newspaper printed information about the San Serriffe Island, a wonderful vacation spot. Every part of the island was named using puns and plays on typography terminology - the island is even shaped like a semicolon. You can read more about it here.

How clever! Maybe I need to get more creative in my tomfoolery. You can read about more funny April Fool's Day jokes, like spaghetti trees and left-handed burgers here.

Happy April Fool's Day - may your jokes be clever and plentiful!