Speaking of Dorsal Fins

The long-awaited pictures of the shark cupcakes that Amy and I made for Tim's birthday:

MY Bucket List

A while back I posted a bucket list that someone else had come up with and checked off the things I had done. Here's MY bucket list. I'm sure I'm leaving things off, but here is my bucket list. I stopped with a list of 50 things because I had to stop somewhere.


(X) Visit Mexico
( ) Visit Canada
(X) Visit Africa
(X) Visit Western Europe
( ) Visit Eastern Europe
(X) Visit Australia and New Zealand
( ) Visit Asia
( ) Visit South America
(X) Read the whole Bible
( ) Read Pride & Prejudice
( ) Read Gone with the Wind
(X) Go on a mission trip
( ) Fall in love
( ) Get married
( ) Have (via pregnancy or adoption) kid(s)
(X) See the night sky from somewhere with not too much light pollution (ie Livingstone/Victoria Falls, Zambia)
(X) Go skinny dipping
(X) Go sky diving
(X) Go parasailing
(X) Go snow skiing
(X) Go water skiing
(X) Stay up all night
(X) Go hiking in the mountains
(X) Have at least one friend you can tell anything to
(X) Have at least one lifelong friend
(X) See ancient ruins
(X) Do something you didn't think you could do
( ) Hike the Inca Trail
(X) Visit Chichen Itza
(X) Visit Cinque Terre
(X) Visit Rome
( ) Walk on the Great Wall of China
( ) Take a cruise around the Mediterranean
(X) Take a cruise
(X) Have a girls' trip
(X) Bourbon St
(X) Stand on the star directly beneath the peak of the dome of the Capitol of Texas and talk
(X) Go to a music festival
(X) Put your feet in the Atlantic Ocean
(X) Put your feet in the Pacific Ocean
( ) Go to a small town festival
( ) Work in a non-US country
( ) Go bungee jumping....??
(X) Stay in a hostel
(X) Get your hands dirty to help someone
( ) Grow old with someone
(X) Get out of your comfort zone
( ) Do an olympic distance triathlon
( ) Run 5 miles without walking
( ) Learn more about art
( ) Learn another language

Weekend in Review: Girls at the Ranch

A couple of weekends ago some girlfriends headed out to a ranch to get away, have a relaxing girls weekend, and celebrate Michelle's last pre-baby girls' getaway! We all met up at Michelle's house and drove down to Laura's uncle's ranch "near" Killeen (though "near" is really a stretch here).

Michelle, Suzie, and I in the car on the way down:



The ranch house (below). The girls had me a little freaked out before we drove down because they told me that we couldn't drink the water! I was like, where the hell are we going?!?! Turns out that they meant not that you would end up with intestinal parasites if you drink the water but that the water isn't very tasty. Glad we got that cleared up. I thought we were going to Mexico.


I made a bunch of food for the weekend, including some desserts - pictured below on top of my favorite game!

We went four-wheeling! That was my first time to go four-wheeling and it was really fun. I think the saftey lecture we got was probably a waste of breath for Laura's uncle, as we definitely didn't get very close to flipping the four-wheelers over. Below is a picture of the cows (not Angus cows, obviously!!!) eating the bungee cords off the four-wheelers.

Saturday afternoon (after our exercise class led by Em, brunch, four-wheeling, and pedicures), we made some crafts for baby Liam!

Some finished products:

We had a great weekend! It was so fun and nice to get away and just hang out!

Book Review: The Sex Lives of Cannibals

In The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost, Maarten spends a couple years with his girlfriend living in the little-known country of Kiribati on the also little-known island of Tarawa. His tales of adventure and, more frequently, misadventure are entertaining and frankly somewhat hard to believe as a first-world dweller. Had I not been to Africa a couple of times, I think I definitely would have been questioning some of the stories. I definitely enjoyed the stories of travels - and the book has definitely itched my travel bug (probably partially combined with summertime as well). The book left me dreaming of travels, adventures, and blue seas with sandy beaches. The ending was also hilarious, as the couple tries to blend back into their American lives, taking a bit of time to adjust.

Weekend in Review: Memorial Day

For Memorial Day weekend some friends and I spent the weekend in Austin and at Lake Travis. Thursday night we headed downtown and went out on 6th Street. We even had Flaming Dr Peppers and worked in some dance moves!

Friday morning we started out with breakfast tacos at Juan in a Million and then toured the Texas campus (complete with some free champane!) and wandered around downtown before heading up to the lake. We went to visit the Capitol and everyone got to stand on the star and hear their voices echo. We also ate at Iron Works BBQ and enjoyed some coffee and desserts at Mozarts on Lake Austin.

On Saturday we took it easy in the morning and then hit the lake and boated around until some storms rolled in. A couple of people thought that they could do without sunscreen and definitely learned otherwise! ;)

Sunday we started out a little earlier than the day before to try to beat the crowds. We got in some water skiing, jet skiing, and wake boarding and then in rolled more storms... Check out the very grey sky in this picture!

We hung out on the boat and in the water waiting for the rain to pass over before getting back on the water skis. Once the storm cleared it was like we had the lake to ourselves! Matt and Melissa also came up to the lake and hung out with us on the boat and at the house afterwards. We played some speed scrabble and made the most amazing fajita dinner ever - which was super fun because it was a total team effort!

On Monday we cleaned up the house, packed up, and headed out. Definitely a fun weekend! And of course, left me missing Austin.

Book Review: Gang Leader for a Day

Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets by Sudhir Venkatesh is a true story in which Sudhir, a PhD student at the University of Chicago, befriends a gang leader to study how the gang functions within its community. (Sudhir is also the sociologist whose gang research is referenced in Freakonomics.) Sudhir hangs out with the gang leader for 6 years, learning many of the ins and outs of life in a gang and life in the projects of Chicago. Sudhir works to understand the finances of the gang and the roles played by the gang in the community. Sudhir also meets other leaders and members of the gang, as well as members of the project community, and gains an insight into their lives not typically seen by others.

Kaylee's 1st Birthday

Kaylee turned one back in May and here are come cute pics from her birthday party!

Playing with her very pretty cake that mommy made from scratch (it was tasty too!).

More playing with cake

Daddy, Kaylee, and Mommy

She got a couple of presents...

Playing with her toys, cousins and friends at the end of the party.

Speakin' Kiwi

Sooo... I got this AWESOME package in the mail, complete with Kiwi phrase magnets. The only problem was, I didn't know what half of them meant. With a little help from my Kiwi translator, you can now expect to hear all of these worked into my every-day American conversations:

sweet as - cool
choice - cool like, that's choice = that's cool
jandals - flip flops aka 'japanese sandals'
hokey pokey - the stuff inside of a cadbury crunchy... it's used in icecream and candy bars etc
kumara - type of potato thing that grows in NZ
kai - maori word for food
carked it - effed it up
l&p - type of soda in NZ
pack a sad - it's like when you are disappointed by something... like, i really wanted to go skiing this weekend but the mountain was closed so i packed a sad and went home
piker - someone who bails on plans
scull - chug (as in beer)
tiki tour - driving around aimlessly on a nice day
suss - figure something out = to suss it out
gum-boots - rain boots / wellingtons
chilly bin - cooler or the refrigerator
togs - swimsuit

There are a few more still coming, so stay tuned!

Book Review: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford is a historical fiction novel set in World War II era Seattle. The main character in the book is a boy whose parents came to the US from China. In the book, he deals with cultural barriers, racism, and a war torn world. He falls in love with a Japanese girl, causing him to be practically disowned by his father. Meanwhile, the Japanese families from Seattle are all sent to internment camps to "protect" them (according to the US government). This book was not only fascinating from a historical perspective, it also told a great story of a boy growing up and finding love. The book flips between present time - the relationship between son and father, and memories from the past - and the past relationship between father and son. This is a must-read if you enjoy historical fiction!

I've Fallen Behind

I'm so far behind in my blogging! I have two pending book reviews and two pending weekend reviews... hopefully those will be coming over the next few days!