Honeymoon: Day Six

We're nearing the close of our too short honeymoon [cry]. But, we decided to go out with a bang -- or a *banff*! We're in Banff National Park right now and the day was spent exploring the area a little bit. The real adventure begins tomorrow morning when we head off bright and early for a big hike.

However, today we visited the infamous Lake Louise and Morraine Lake. Both were pretty amazing.



I preferred Morraine Lake -- even thought it was much smaller -- simply because it wasn't as overrun by tourists. We also ventured a quick "scramble" up a rocky mountain to get some pretty incredible views of the lake. Let us also note, that before attempting the scramble up the mountain, Jamie attempted to scramble across a bunch of floating logs to get to said mountain. So Jamie ended up having to do the hike up with wet shoes. Hilarious.












We finished off our evening of exploration by driving the scenic route towards the hotel in search of wildlife. We had some success -- we ended up spotting not one, not two, but three black bears and two cubs! It was pretty incredible. One of the cubs was about 20 feet from me and running towards me, but I was awestruck by how cute it was that all I got was this blurry picture.


I was so preoccupied with the cub, that I didn't even notice mama bear about 15 feet in front of us...needless to say, I was nervous enough when I did see her to ruin that picture as well. I hear it's a death wish to get between a mama bear and her cubs...



Oh well...perhaps I'll have some steadier hands tomorrow when we are on our hikes...

Honeymoon: Day Five

Today we had some fun times exploring the deserts of British Columbia before making our way to Kamloops and eventually Sun Peaks. We decided to stop in at the British Columbia Wildlife Park given my love for all things that are made for kids. We figured we would get to see some of Canada's wildlife just in case we weren't able to catch them in our travels.

One of the best parts about this zoo, was that it was pretty much empty. We were able to get really close to the animals without having to crane our necks over fathers with kids on their shoulders. Seriously there was little more than a wooden fence between us and most of the animals. Had I felt like my right hand was unnecessary for life, I could have reached out and pet Mr. Grizzly Bear. It was nice.





















The other great thing is that in Canada there are none of those foolish scruples of protecting the kids from seeing carnage so we got to see plenty of the animals during feeding time. Although the bears mostly ate fruit, there were definitely some bunnies in with the eagles. Sorry vegetarians.






Hopefully we'll get to see some of these animals (well, except for the cougar since they're not so much from these parts) in their natural habitat tomorrow as we make our way to Banff.

Anyway, what I really want to talk about is the hotel we stayed at in Whistler. I booked it because it was among the better deals I could find, and because it looked like fun. Seriously, the room was crazy -- it had a fake fur everywhere and all these crazy details. Some were awesome (ie: the iPod alarm clocks), and others were just bizarre (ie: the oxygen dispenser). We stayed in a loft suite which was most excellent. The place is recommended if you're ever in the Whistler area and you want something different.

The plan for tomorrow is to get to Banff in one piece and enjoy a big hike to the lakes and meadows Banff has to offer. Hopefully I finally get a picture of these alpine meadows I've been hearing about...

Oh! And today we got our first honeymoon nod at the hotel. Chocolate-covered strawberries in our room. Yum!

Honeymoon: Day Four

Superquick update since we're about to have some breakfast before heading out to Sun Peaks. Just wanted to share some pictures from our hike around Whistler Mountain yesterday...
















Needless to say, the hike was gorgeous, if not a little stressful when hiking across steep mountain faces on snow. Next time, I'll bring a big stick.

Honeymoon: Day Three

Hooray for free internet -- at least I hope what I hope is free internet!

We left Tofino bright and early this morning and headed back to Vancouver for an afternoon at Stanley Park before making our way to Whistler. Thankfully the ferry was much less painful this time around.

One of the many lakes on Vancouver Island.

We stopped at the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park once we got back to the mainland. There we got to see some Beluga whales among other fun Canadian wildlife. Good times were had.

The elusive Californian Cadfish.

We had a pretty great meal tonight in Whistler. For the first time ever, I sent something back because it was overcooked. I felt bad doing it, but since we were paying so much, I figured it would be okay. Lo and behold we got our dinner at half-price and with free desserts and coffee. Most excellent. Although given the amount of guilt I felt at sending it back, I don't know that I will be doing that anymore...

Tomorrow we will be hiking around Whistler and I will be taking lots and lots of pictures.

Weeeeeee!

Honeymoon: Day One and Two

So we're in Tofino, Canada and having a wonderful time so far. It's absolutely gorgeous here, and I promised some pictures.

This is some crazy crustacean that we found on our tide pool excursion. An entire piece of driftwood was covered with them. Points to anyone who can identify them.

It was a pretty eventful trip to get here yesterday. Our flight left at 6:30am, so we were up at 3:30am and in line at the airport not too long after. I should have taken the huge line at the Customer Service counter as a bad sign, but we sat in the line for a good long hour. When we finally got there, ticket lady informed us that our flight had been canceled. Which was funny since I had checked us in a mere 8 hours earlier. Jamie and I have terrible luck traveling together, so I immediately envisioned a Miami redux.

I am embarrassed to say that my eyes may have welled up a little as I sputtered that the flight couldn't be canceled because it was our honeymoon and ticket lady was able to book us on the next flight out of there (3 hours later) and even gave us the exit row. While annoyed that Alaska Airlines decided to cancel the flight for no apparent reason, and that we (Jamie, I and Jamie's poor dad) had to get up so early, I was happy that we were able to bypass the entire customer service fiasco.

Oh, but the chain of events that would be caused by that flight cancellation. Needless to say, the later flight put us at peak time for customs, for traffic, and for the ferry to Vancouver Island. We ended up getting to the hotel at 11pm -- a far cry from the 3pm we had originally envisioned. After having to cancel our dinner reservation, we were starving and the nice hotel person was able to scrounge up some room service for us despite their being closed.

We are currently staying at the Wickanninish Inn. It is probably among the nicest rooms that I have ever stayed in and it's absolutely gorgeous with a view of the beach. Despite rain (a recurring theme in my marriage to Jamie) we walked the beach and played in the tide pools and visited the cute little town of Tofino (pop: 1400). Anyway, if anybody is ever interested in visiting Vancouver Island, "The Wick" has our stamp of approval.

We're leaving pretty early for our next destination at Whistler tomorrow. Hopefully they will also have complimentary internet -- although that is pretty unlikely. I will update with more pictures as soon as I get the chance...

Canadian Vacay.

Jamie is officially done with his BAR exam! Hooray! It's time for our honeymoon in exotic British Columbia!

We leave tomorrow on a very, very, VERY early flight and will be blissfully gallivanting around Vancouver by 9am. I will post pictures and stories whenever I come across an internet connection.


Byeeeeeeee!

I Found Pacey!

Yay!

Okay. Now I should probably finish packing and go to sleep because I'm leaving for L.A. tomorrow at buttcrack in the morning. I'll post from there before Jamie and I leave for the honeymoon!

Clean Our Rides.

I like this whole movement to make worrying about global warming cool. I don't know if I would have started the series with Ben Affleck, but I feel as though this project makes him slightly less annoying in my book.

I await the return of Pacey with baited breath. Drew: I know you're with me.

P.S. That's just the first episode, a whole bunch of them are available on www.cleanmyride.org.

Underwhelmed.

It was a gorgeous day yesterday as I walked back from a friend's house. Consequently, I was smiling happily at everyone I passed. Including a guy talking on his cellphone. In response to my smile he immediately asked for my number -- mid-conversation, mind you. No "hello", no idle chat about the weather, it was "can I get your number?"

Whatever happened to the chase? Whatever happened to wooing people with your charms? What was he expecting would happen? I remember when men would at least create some fake story about how they just moved to town to take care of their sick mother and didn't know anybody yet and would you mind showing me some of the city if you had time?

In other news: Jamie is taking the BAR right now! Scary! Send him smart vibes...

Butt Pancake.

I stayed up to an embarrassingly late hour last night finishing Harry Potter. Never mind that I had been actively trying not to finish the book ever since I got it on Saturday (thank you Amazon pre-order program!). Unfortunately, any feeble attempts I made at putting the book down were completely shattered last night. Now I will have to find some other -- less fun -- book to read in the airport on Wednesday.

A friend suggested I just read the other books in the series over again...like a Harry Potter marathon. If I were to do that, I might need to get one of these fake book covers so people in the airport won't harass me for not reading Deathly Hallows.


I don't know that I would actually reread the old Harry Potters on this trip as it may upset my dad...who probably wants me to read something that is not a children's book. Killjoy.

Because Anne Louise Said So...

So there was this video on Cute Overload (a website I highly recommend when in need of some cute) months ago that has since been taken off of said website. It bummed me out when it was taken off because it was the only video I knew of that had a profound effect on Cody. Cody has never been a cat to really react to the television or computer, but this video would freak him out.



Baby Kitten, Mom To The Rescue! - video powered by Metacafe

Hearing the sad little kitten would put him into parent-mode and he would search frantically for the offended kitten. He'd look behind the monitor and knock over the speakers...it was awesome. While I did feel bad for stressing him out, I had to do it a couple more times...because it was awesome. Then, for his sake, I forgot about the video.

Until yesterday. I found the video again and wondered to myself if he would still react. After all, now we had an annoying brat kitten that pestered him all day. I thought for sure he would ignore the crying kitten. I had to test it...and then I had to do it one more time because Anne Louise told me to video tape him for the blog.

I'm so mean. Note how he checks on Junior. He did that both (alright, all four times) that I played the video. And now, I will never play those videos again -- unless on mute -- so as not to traumatize my cats.

Lovefest Wrap-Up.

I have to admit that I have been putting off posting about my wedding because it was a very daunting task. There is just so much to write and a ridiculous number of pictures. Here goes...










We chose Elkridge because the staff seemed the most friendly and the most competent. Since neither Jamie nor I knew what we were doing, this seemed to be the best route to go. Ultimately, I am very glad we did because they did an incredible job despite the few curveballs that got thrown their way. Especially that storm.

When we were signing the contract, we were especially drawn to the ceremony site -- I mean, it's gorgeous! So I was dreading the thought of rain...as it turned out, it was awesome. It was especially great because it wasn't a dinky little sprinkly storm -- it was an all-out storm. So, even though we had to move indoors, the storm effectively drew attention away from the fact that I was a sweaty mess and that my bridesmaids had to water me and fan me off right before the ceremony.

See?

Ultimately, whether indoors or out, Jamie and I were married and that is pretty great. Drew, feel free to use the picture as an advertisement for all of your future officiating ventures. You were also amazing under the pressure of Mother Nature.

I have a ton of pictures from the reception but I'm not sure who would take offense at me putting their pictures online so I'll withhold most of them for now. But there are a couple of gems that I need to put up if only because I think the people in these pictures may be the only ones who actually check this sad excuse for a blog.

Looking at my pictures makes me all nostalgic despite the fact that our wedding was a mere two months ago. Still...the night went by SO fast that it feels like it happened much longer ago. Fortunately, I was able to see friends again at another Williams wedding last weekend (congrats Jamie and Joel!) and it was so nice being able to bask in the wedding love of others.

Thanks again to everyone who could make it -- having you there made the night even more special...

Also, can I just say, that going through the pictures of the Father-Daughter dance was just SO painful because I'm sobbing in every single one of them. Then I discovered that looking at the people watching behind us made it great because they were all crying too and their crying faces were just as funny-looking as my crying face...well, not really...but it was a relief nevertheless.

Finally, what I feel is my greatest accomplishment for the wedding (aside from somehow getting my best friend to marry me):

Our program: the one casualty of the storm.

(Don't worry, you know I totally made myself another one when I got home.)

Drunk Monkeys Not Your Thing?

...Then you get Babies Eating Lemons!

Is this a form of child abuse? Maybe. Cruel? Probably. Somewhat hilarious? Yes.

Monkey Heaven.

I think it's really interesting that the percentages among the monkeys that like to drink alcohol and those that avoid it are correlated to the same data in humans. Kind of crazy.

Scary Lady.

There are many things I could blog about. We finally got our digital negatives from the wedding and with it many fun pictures. We also are also 1 week from Jamie's BAR exam. Oh, and let's not forget that we embark from our much-awaited honeymoon very soon.

But what is pulling me out of blogging hibernation is a rant. A very passionate rant.

So, as a teacher on her summer break, I am enjoying a lot of relaxation time in my home. Time is spent cooking, watching television shows about cooking, perusing the internet and very occasionally doing some work. This is important only because these are all activities that I have been doing downstairs in our living/dining room.

Today I was doing my work when I notice that the UPS guy has left a package slip on our door. This is weird because he never knocked, nor rang the doorbell. Also, because I have been downstairs all day had he knocked quietly or rang and ditched, I would have noticed him right away. The package slip is extremely cryptic and says only: "Left at Bell" and a 3-digit number. I immediately got Jamie to take a 5-minute break from the studying to go to the corresponding address (which, incidentally wasn't even a neighbor -- it was down and across the street) in case the 3-digit number was supposed to be an address.

Fortunately, Jamie went and not me, because I would not have been as kind. Apparently, some lady down our street got the UPS guy to leave all of the packages for her "neighbors" at her house. I guess this is her sad way of getting people to come to her house and to meet them. Um. This should be illegal.

To make it even more creepy, she proceeds to tell Jamie that she does not approve that our rental unit downstairs has a Certificate of Occupancy since it doesn't have two points of egress. I'm sorry, lady, but the building inspector thought it was just fine and gave us the CofO. Then adding that if we were good people we would put in an additional exit. Why on earth you know all of our business and about our building permits is beyond me.

Oh, and she doesn't like that we keep our BACK GATE LOCKED and that we shouldn't keep our BACK GATE LOCKED because it's a fire hazard.

Crazy lady, don't tell me not to lock my gate. I will lock my gate and my door to keep creepy people like you, out. Also, don't go through the walkway behind my house and check to see if my gate is locked. I will set up a booby-trap (or at least coat the handle with honey and ants) if I find out you're lurking behind my house again. It is only a fire hazard for people who are walking in the 3 feet of space behind my house that is the walkway which should not include you.

Jamie thinks this is kind of cute and charming. I think she's nuts. She's nuts, right?? Or am I paranoid?

Okay, I'm off to write an angry letter to UPS for leaving our package with a total stranger before even attempting to deliver it to us...

Simple Pleasures.

I don't know why this cracks me up, but it does.



If you laughed as hard at this as I did, then we are soulmates.

Girl Fight.

So I was watching television this morning -- hurrah for summer break! -- when I saw a commercial for some new reality television show. While the subject matter would normally not catch my attention, I will be tuning in to Fight Girls tonight. Why? Because my husband used to date one of the contestants.

I say "date" very loosely. One of the consequences of marrying a high school sweetheart is that all "exes" can barely be considered exes. Jamie dated Jeanine for, like, two days in ninth grade. Still, that's pretty awesome and I'm happy for her -- she's a really great person. A great person that can kick my ass with two hands tied behind her back. And standing on one foot.

Horse Whisperer.

And we're back! We've actually been back for a while, but it's been pretty hectic ever since the wedding...But, we're back and I'm officially a Missus! Very exciting.

While I don't have any pictures of my own from the wedding, I do have pictures from our minimoon -- so I will share those! Since Jamie is enrolled in a bunch of BAR classes, he could only take a day off for our minimoon. We decided to make the trip to Shenandoah Valley (one of our favorites) to relax and unwind. This time, rather than hiking it up and suffering through leg cramps, we decided to visit Jordan Hollow Inn for some pampering. It was most excellent. We got to relax in our gorgeous cabin with a fireplace and jacuzzi tub, and take in the beautiful scenery from our private porch.













I have a million photos of the view from our porch, but I'm going to try and lay off. We did get to go horseback riding -- although it poured on us at first (a theme for the weekend I think). We still got out there and enjoyed ourselves. Jamie's horse, Whalen, was full of hutzpuh and spunk. My horse, Dancer, was just slow -- I guess a result of a many years of life as a racehorse. This is Dancer taking a bow:

So we got some really great food at the restaurant and played with the horses...we even got to share the morning with a resident farm cat. At night we watched the fine film, Dave, as a tribute to our first date (Dave being the movie that we didn't watch because we were so distracted by each other).


We also went to Luray Caverns which was a good time. We saw lots of caverny things -- like stalagmites...and stalactites. Pretty neat trip and highly recommended if y'all are ever passing through Luray, VA.


That's actually a picture of a pool of water on the cavern floor -- it reflects the ceiling perfectly so those stalagmites -- are actually stalactites. It kind of makes your head spin after a while.

So I know I didn't talk about the wedding at all -- I will. Once I get some pictures in I will share more about that incredible day/night. I will say this: it was perfect and I am so glad that I could share that incredible experience with friends.

It's Official!

I'm going to marry a bona fide lawyer in just one week! Today, Jamie graduated from law school (with honors) and is now officially has a J.D. Very excited.


That's Jamie hugging the Dean...because a simple handshake doesn't suffice. Jamie even got a shout-out from the Dean in his commencement speech. As you can probably tell, I'm very proud to be marrying this guy.

The highlight of the (long) graduation ceremony was the singing of the National Anthem by my fiance. Seriously -- he sang the National Anthem in front of thousands of people today and he sounded amazing. Wanna hear? Of course you do...

That's going to be my HUSBAND in one week! Okay. Enough with the cheese...I am just very proud. Here are some more pictures from today...

The State of Affairs.

So I know that almost one week before my wedding I shouldn't be writing downer posts...but this article in the LA Times today sort of prompted me to. Not only because it's such a terrible, horrible thing to happen at any school, but that it happened at my school.

I have felt increasingly sad about our schools. Things like the story above happen relatively rarely at a school like Harvard-Westlake, but they happen too many times to make the news at schools like where I now work. Last week we had the fourth murder within 3 blocks of my ELEMENTARY school since January. That is almost one murder a month within 3 blocks of my school.

I have watched as one of my most intelligent (albeit difficult) students from my first year of teaching has become the recruiter for a local gang at our ELEMENTARY school. When 10 year olds are recruiting more 10 year olds to join their gang I cannot help but feel like what I do is pointless. Any amount of knowledge or character that I can teach my kids in the 7 hours I have them, is erased on their way home when they are exposed to the dangers of our neighborhood.

It's sad. And I have no answers.

Nerd Corner.

My life has been devoid of Conan O'Brien for too long. What a triumphant return. I, personally, am a fan of "Herniated Disc C3PO".

So Soon.

Yikes. I'm lame. Here's the quick update:

1) The wedding is SO SOON. Things are falling (have fallen) into place and I'm just so excited for the chance to finally be married to this guy.

2) After a check-up with the vet it turns out that our little Junior is actually one of those rare female orange tabbies. Good thing we didn't try to get her neutered right away -- that would have been embarrassing.

3) The wedding is soon.

4) I have vowed to post more often. Maybe even daily? I figured that even if everybody has given up on this blog, I'll be able to look back at it someday and remember this period of my life right before Jamie and I got hitched. So with you as my witness, I promise to post more often...at least until I'm completely overwhelmed, grouchy, stressed, etc. with wedding plans. If that happens. (It probably will).

Junior.

Sorry that I haven't updated in a while -- it was a combination of things, most specifically the lack of regular internet access. But, things have been straightened out on this end and I should be able to update more often now.

There have been lots of things going on over here, what with the preparations for the upcoming wedding and all. I am nearing the home stretch and fortunately my "To-Do" list is starting to look manageable.

But, enough of that wedding stuff for now. The real big news was the addition of a new family member a couple of weeks ago. His name is Junior. After many, many months of contemplation and pontificating we decided to adopt a friend for Cody. Actually, Jamie and I had been arguing about whether we should go with a dog or a cat. While we both love dogs, I thought that at this juncture in our lives -- one where we live in the middle of a city and in a house without a backyard -- it just wouldn't be right to have a dog. A cat, however, would be awesome. A playmate for Cody would be a good thing, and having another cat would not really be all that much extra work.

Jamie still wasn't siding with me...until I took him to a cat adoption and he saw this guy:


Yes, I know he looks just like Cody. No, I'm not racist (breedist?) when it comes to orange tabbies. But, just look at that face! I wanted to get a tuxedo cat, but this little guy was just so friendly and started purring as soon as we took him out of his cage. As an added bonus, his foster family had named him "Cody"-- clearly it was just meant to be. So we adopted him the following week.

He has adjusted really well -- just runs around the house. The foster mom had told me that he was a finicky and somewhat anorexic-eater and that I would probably need to forcefeed him at first. Not so, he just devours all the food on his plate and then runs to find Cody's food to eat that too. While he was really runty when we got him, he's grown so much with us (he is now a whopping 4lbs!). Cody and him take turns chasing the other around the house. It's good times.

More pictures? We (meaning: I) played around with different names for a while. Gizmo? Hobbes? Lil' Brudder? But Jamie was set with "Junior" because it's cute, and he was originally a Cody. So Junior it is.

And now, naptime.

Cody is still the most excellent cat in the world.