Roadtrip

So, Josh and I just bought this car:

It's a 1980 AMC Spirit.

We got it on ebay. This is our second time to buy a vehicle online. The first time turned out pretty well, so hopefully this car will be good too.

Josh already loves it. He says that he's already had a life and death experience in it, which he sort of did. While driving it home, an 18-wheeler pulled into the lane Josh was in, right alongside him. As I watched Josh swerving into the next lane, and the SUV in that lane swerving onto the shoulder, all I could think was, "It's not even insured yet."

While some might think this was me worrying about the wrong thing, I think it was more of a testament to my faith in Josh's driving skills (I was pretty sure he'd avoid a complete wreck).

Anyhow, we were already planning a roadtrip up the east coast for the summer. And by "planning" I mean us saying, "Let's go on a road trip and not plan ahead at all for it." (That's just how we roll.)

Now we have a nice little sportsy car to do it in.

Student Bubbles

Today, my pre-AP students were presenting different Shakespeare plays. One of the groups was doing Hamlet. For the scene where Ophelia dies, they created a cardboard lake. Ophelia sank behind it. Then blew soap bubbles. How smart and creative is that?

Shrunken Heads

So, today Josh was watching this British tv show called QI. They were talking about the most effective way to weigh your own head. Anyhow, I don't know what they said that made Josh pause and demand that when he dies I carry around his head in a velvet bag.

I asked him if I could shrink it first, and he said yes. I actually know how to shrink a head (theoretically; I've never actually tried it), but I figured I'd look for instructions, just to be sure. So, in case you are interested, here is a site you can go to for directions: How to Prepare a Shrunken Head.

You're welcome.

Onions

While I was at WalMart a week or so ago, I suddenly decided to have a garden this summer. I picked up seed packages for about ten different vegetables before my excitement began to dwindle away. I remembered that I have never had a garden before, only a few potted tomato plants that didn't do so well. I also figured that I would have to fence off a portion of my yard if I wanted to keep Luna from digging up all of the plants. Furthermore, I reminded myself that I am not very good at things which require the same job to be done multiple times over an extended period of time (like housekeeping, or gardening.)

I left WalMart with just four things - strawberry plants, seeds for corn, seeds for peas, and a clump of onion shoots (or whatever they are called). I got them home, started thinking about where I would put them, got stressed out about it (because there are too many choices in our backyard), and left them in a bag by the door.

A few days later, I read something about how you can grow green onions in a cup of water, so the other night I started stripping the little onion shoots of their brown skins and stuck them in a little jar of water. I only did about half of the onions before I quit (I decided to leave some to plant the regular way if I can decide where to put them.)

So that is how my garden is coming along.

Yeah.

Life Plans

Tentative plans:


Next stop (not for another year or so at least) - Dubai or Abu Dhabi.

Then - South Korea (I'm telling you, "City Hunter" changed my life ;) )

After - maybe Turkey, maybe back to Montana. Maybe somewhere totally different.



 Of course, our plans always change. See my post from 2010: Nomads.

That's all.

randomness on my mind

I stabbed myself with a screwdriver trying to open a bottle tonight.



After watching hour upon hour of a Korean tv show, "City Hunter," I had a dream in "Korean" with subtitles.





I really like Gary Jules and Damien Rice. "Mad World" is one of my most favorite songs.

I've got me some fierce wanderlust going on right now.

Josh makes me laugh more than anyone should.

Pretty sure I'm going to get a tattoo here in the next bit.

Winter here in Texas is kind of like summer in Montana.

I really love both Tink and Luna.

That's all for now.

Coming Soon

I am really excited for the Hunger Games movie coming up.

 I am even more excited for the final Wheel of Time book, A Memory of Light, to come out. 

Travel Memories

Here is an entry I posted on Xanga on June 25, 2006:

Josh I must say it, "I am extremely proud of my husband!"  Before this trip the only place he'd been outside of the country was Trinidad (and Canada).  But, he has been AMAZING to travel with.  I mean, we drive up to Minneapolis for Gina's wedding and the day after that we hop on a plane.  We fly clear to Jordan, rush to my parents' house for four hours (for showers and naps) then back to the airport to fly to Turkey.  Josh insists that we miss our connecting flight in Istanbul on purpose so that we can see the city.  We leave the airport and hop in a taxi.  The driver, who barely speaks English, tells us that he knows this great hotel named Santa Sophia, so we tell him to take us there.  It turns out to be a great place, actually, within walking distance of Aya Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar and several other cool places.  So we spend the day seeing the sights, then catch some sleep.  The next day we go shopping in the Grand Bazaar. (Here I must say something about my own travel skills... I had to take an emergency bathroom break... I paid a guy 400,000 Turkish Lira to use the restroom only to find out it was a squatty-potty.  It was an emergency, though, so I made it work.) Anyhow, we took two trains to get back to the airport, which in Turkish is something like Havilavar (just in case you are ever there).  We then flew to Izmir, but still had to get to Kusadasi.  So, we took a bus into downtown Izmir, then caught a shuttle bus to the main bus terminal.  From there we caught another bus into downtown Kusadasi.  We arrived there at three in the morning and had to go wake up this taxi driver to take us to our hotel.  And the whole time it was me who was sort of freaking out and Josh who was cool about everything.  He changed money, bought our visas, found the bus station, figured out which bus we were on (with the help of this great Dutch lady we met), warded off over-zealous shopkeepers, and greatly impressed his wife.  I'm SO blessed to have married someone who will hop on a plane with me and go half-way around the world without really knowing where we will end up.  He is the most amazing man I know, and I LOVE him. Here are some pictures from that trip:

Hidden Treasure

Here is the print Josh and I bought for $12. We bought it because we liked it, and the colors matched our living room.
It is by Sadao Watanabe; painted in 1979. We have 28/80.

Here's a link to the gallery where it is on sale for $1600: http://www.davidsongalleries.com/artists/watanabe_sadao/watanabe_sadao.php .

Pretty crazy.

Haha Tonka State Park

One of the best days ever was the day Josh and I went to Haha Tonka State Park with our friends, Michael and Miracle. It was our first time to go out hiking, and led to a sort of tradition of looking for fun places to go. None of them every quite matched that first trip. Here's why:

1. Haha Tonka has a castle. In the middle of Missouri, a castle.

2. It has a blue river.

3. That comes from a blue spring.

4. With a massive stair-system to get there.

5. And a natural bridge.

It was FREEZING the day we went, but totally worth it.