Overdue...I know.

Ok, ok. I guess I just didn't think anyone was really reading this blog or would care much about what I was up to after I finally made it to Colorado. I guess I'm wrong because I've had a couple of people ask why I wasn't writing anymore. So here it is. The GRAND UPDATE!!

Believe it or not, I have midterms this week. What?! YIKES! That means I have a quiz in Sanskrit, a team project and paper due for my Contemplative Hinduism class with my friend Amy (it's on the Upanishads) and a 6-8 page paper due on Science v. Religion. You could say I'm a little overwhelmed but I'll get it done. The light at the end of the tunnel is my trip to see my beautiful niece Adison this Thursday. I'll be in Orlando for 5 days playing with her and, of course, no trip to Orlando in October goes without a visit to my favorite place in the WHOLE world, Universal Studio's Halloween Horror Nights!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait! The theme this year is Bloody Mary so it should be awesome.

Besides getting school work done, the biggest stress in my life is finding a part-time job. I have inquired at a couple of places but no hits just yet. I haven't really put in the effort yet because I don't want the job until November but I'm still a little stressed about it. It'll all work out though. Gabe just got a job with REI. Here is Boulder for you. REI did a job fair to recruit employees, they had 90 people interview for the 30 positions they were going to hire. Gabriel was so lucky he got hired. Even with a degree in Parks and Rec (the outdoor industry), there is still major competition for those positions out here. He starts training in a couple of weeks and is looking for a restaurant job in the meantime to compliment his REI schedule. It is not easy finding a job nowadays, that is for sure!

So far we have been hiking every week, cause that's what people in Boulder do:) I've been letting Gabriel pick the hikes and he has progressively kicked my ass harder and harder. Last week we celebrated Gabe's birthday and went to Rocky Mountain National Park. For those of you who know Gabe and are wondering why we were celebrating his birthday in September rather than in June, it's because his real birthday in June kinda sucked. We were moving and it didn't receive the attention it deserved. So I surprised him last week with homemade brownies (like from scratch, yo), I decorated the house, took him to a Thai dinner, got him some groovy gifts and we went hiking in RMNP which is only 40 minutes from our house! It was beautiful! On one of our hikes in Boulder we saw a black bear. In the park we saw some elk. And yesterday we saw a fox in Longmont.

Animals have been a big theme since we've been here. Our personal animals have had a bumpy ride. Sedona had to have two teeth pulled, Duncan dropped his ball in a ground hornet's nest and suffered the consequences (both of his eyes swelled shut from the stings) and Diego has now been to the vet TWICE for getting his ass kicked my a neighborhood cat. He keeps getting popped in the shoulder and on the face. I'm pretty sure I know who it is but I haven't seen it happen. I think it's the white cat in the neighborhood that doesn't have a home, some of the neighbors feed him though because his owners moved and left him:( Then, last weekend we saved a baby squirrel from our backyard and took him to a wildlife rescue center here in Longmont. We hope he is doing well. It took us almost an hour to catch that bugger and we had to fend off several neighborhood cats while doing it. He was too young to be on his own and would walk right up to us or any other animal that could potentiallly harm him.

Lately Gabriel and I have been cooking more. We go to the Farmer's Market here in Longmont almost every weekend and are trying new vegetables. Last week it was spaghetti squash, this week is butternut squash and brussel sprouts. If anyone has a good recipe for either of those, please let us know. We love our home here and feel acclimated to life in Colorado. My parents come to visit this month and I can't wait! It's gorgeous here. I drive, or ride the bus, to school each day and see the sun shine on the rockies. We would like to formally invite anyone and everyone to come visit! We have a spare bedroom with your name on it:)

I think that's it for now. I'll try to post some pictures on here when I get a chance. I love October and Halloween is just around the corner. We're having a party here on Halloween if anyone would like to come!!! We hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather as much as we are...miss you all!

Rocky Mountain High

WE MADE IT! After 4 days of driving with two cars, two dogs and a cat we finally made it from Durham, NC to Longmont, CO. And believe it or not, it really wasn't all that bad. The first day we only drove 4 hours to Asheville, NC and spent the night catching up with Becky. Then we took off on Wednesday Aug 13th and spent the night in one of my favorite places to say... Paducah, KY. We hit the jackpot with one exit that had the terrific trio: a hotel that allowed dogs (Days Inn), a Cracker Barrel and a Waffle House...who could ask for anything more??!!

The second night we stayed in Topeka, KS and it turned out there was a dog show that weekend so there were purebred dogs EVERYWHERE. Diego was definitely outnumbered and like one woman said "You better hold on to that cat cause there's a shitload of dogs around here". We managed though with our cat and two muts and were on our way the next day. We arrived in Longmont on Friday night around 8pm MT (yep we're on Mountain Time now). It turns out that our landlord now lives next door to us. They are staying at the neighbor's house for the next couple of months until the husband recovers from a heart attack he had this summer. He's fine though and they were happy to show us to our new house.

Since then we have been unpacking and I have been attending orientation for my school, Naropa University. I registered for classes today and here is what I am taking this semester:

1. Contemplative Hinduism
2. Sanskrit I
3. Meditation Practicum I
4.Trends in Religious Studies
5. Methods and Issues in the Study of Religion

Pretty cool huh? Meanwhile, Gabriel has already applied to a job with the OSMP (Open Space Mountain Parks) Department and is looking for other possibilities. We love it here! So, that means...y'all need to come visit right quick! We miss everyone already and can't wait to show off our new life here. It's been quite a ride getting here but has very fortunately gone so smoothly.

Back in North Cackalacky!!!!!!!!!!!!

We made it, we're home! Well if that's what you can call it. We actually don't have a home right now. Mom and Dad get here on Sunday and bring the babies. Then we pack up a trailer on Monday with all of our stuff to be sent to our new home in Longmont, CO. We'll start driving across country on Tuesday (12th), me in my car and Gabe in his. We'll have both dogs and our cat Diego with us so it should be quite the experience. We originally wanted to camp on the way out there to save money but I'm not sure how that'll go with all of the animals. We'll see. We're hoping to stop in Asheville on the way out to visit Becky and then haul ass to Colorado. My grad school starts on Monday, Aug 18!! YIKES! In the meantime, our friends are throwing us a goodbye party on Saturday (thanks Hopie and Charlie) so we're going to have some fun and try to get our bodies adjusted back to EST....just in time to move to Mountain Time:) In case I forget here is our new address in Colorado..

1433 Gay Street
Longmont, CO
80501

Well, that's it for now. Our journey to the other side of the world and back is over for now. It's time for the next phase. We'll be updating the blog with pictures from the trip and our highlight and lowlight lists for each destination so stay tuned!

A-L-O-H-A

Hawaii was fabulous! We were only there for 2 1/2 days but it was a nice transition before coming home. The craziest thing for us has been the time changes. I'm not really sure what time zone are bodies are on right now. We left Thailand on Aug 5th at 8:15am and arrived in Honolulu the same day but at 7:30am. So it was like we landed before we even left! Crazy! When we were in Thailand we were 11 hours ahead of NC. But in Hawaii we were 6 hours behind. Needless to say, we were all screwed up and extremely jetlagged most of the time there. Still, we rented a jeep and drove around the island with the top down. We managed to catch some rays on beautiful beaches and watched a hula show in Waikiki. Due to all of my work travel we were able to stay at the Hyatt in Waikiki with my points. After staying in places that didn't even have screens in the windows or electricity, we were beside ourselves with the decadence of the Hyatt. We wish we could have stayed longer and checked out more of the island. We'll have to go back someday to get more quality time there. One thing is for sure, Hawaii is gorgeous!

Roxanne... you don't have to turn on the Red Light.

So no trip to Bangkok would be complete without visiting the Red Light district, Patpong. We decided to hit up the nearby night market first which was huge. Not quite as big as the Weekend market but still big. Lots of stalls with higher end goods. Then there was a big stage and a beer garden where you could grab a beer and watch Thai bands play. We also managed to squeeze in an hour foot massage because our feet were sore from all the shopping:)

We walked over to the Red Light district not really knowing where we were going or what to expect. Surprisingly it's not much different than all the other streets in Bangkok. There were street vendors selling the same stuff as everywhere else and then a few selling more "erotic" items. The only real difference were the throngs of people asking you if you wanted to see a "ping pong" show. I will leave that one to your imagination but if you'd like details, give us a call. In all I guess you could say it was a cultural experience. It's strange that a country that infuses Buddhist ideals into all ways of life would have such a HUGE sex market. But it does, and for a reason. It makes a lot of money!

Our last day in Bangkok we went back over to the infamous Kho San Road for last minute souvenirs and to grab a new book for the plane ride home. Gabriel had mentioned maybe wanting to get a new suit custom tailored made while we were there and it turned out they could still do it in time. For $80 we met with the tailors, chose the style of suit, the fabric and had a suit made. We initially met with them at 2pm, had a fitting at 6pm and it was ready to take home by 9pm! It's really nice and fits him to a T. Now he just needs somewhere to wear it! I think it was a great purchase on his part. Thailand is famous for that and there are tailor shops all over Bangkok. I could have had a suit made myself or even a fancy ball gown made from Thai silk. Maybe next time...

Our final wish before leaving Thailand was to have one more traditional Thai massage so we did that on our last day. It's funny though. The massages are so cheap you really can't complain but it's not like getting a massage at a spa. You walk in and there are mattresses laying on the ground next to eachother. You can be getting your massage with numerous other people. There is no soft music playing or privacy. And the masseuses are usually talking the whole time to eachother in Thai so you have no idea what they are saying. It's kind of like getting a pedicure at a Nail Salon in a strip mall vs. getting one at a spa. Even though the atmosphere may not be as nice, it still feels great! A good way to get relaxed before sitting on a plane for 24 hours.

Hawaii here we come!

Last few days...

We are back in the big city, Bangkok, for two days before leaving Thailand. It's bittersweet. We are really sad about leaving but also excited about starting the next chapter.

We are trying to do all of our last minute sounvenir shopping while we're here so we made a point to be back to Bangkok during the weekend. There is an incredibly HUGE weekend market with thousands of vendor stalls so we went today. There were so many people and tons and tons of stuff to buy. Everything from puppies to Western shirts. It was crazy! As if we didn't get enough, we're headed to the night market tonight. Tomorrow we'll visit the floating market and then off to Hawaii on Tuesday. We have a two day layover there before going home.

The last couple of weeks we've been in the islands. We found our beach paradise on Koh Pha Nang and then went to Koh Tao to dive. We spent three nights on Koh Tao. Being the smaller and more remote of the islands, I thought it was going to be quiet but since this is the #1 place to dive in Thailand, everyone was there! We saw some amazing fire shows where they twirl fire. We even saw a three year old boy do it! And Gabriel finally got to experience his first ocean dive. We did two dives on one day. There was a rumor of a whale shark at a particular dive site so our captain changed the schedule last minute. We weren't the only ones with that idea so we ended up diving with a TON of people. It was kind of a mess underwater. Divers everywhere! There was no whale shark but we did see two banded sea snakes which were really cool. Gabriel had a great time too! The second dive was better....less people. We even went through a really cool swim through that was the highlight of our dive.

All in all, we really enjoyed our time in the islands. We can't wait to show you pictures! Now it's time to go shopping. See you all soon!

Beach Paradise

We have found our beach paradise on a beach called Haad Yao on Ko Pha Ngan. It's a nice little stretch of white sand with only a dozen or so hotels on it. We had a candlelit dinner right on the beach last night...it was really nice. We've been hanging by the pool and beach all day today since it's finally sunny. We haven't had horrible weather but it hasn't been the best either. Mostly cloudy with scattered rain. We arrived here 4 days ago. We stayed one night on the beach that hosts the famous "Full Moon" party once a month. Turns out there is also a "Black Moon", "Half Moon" and "Shiva Moon" party as well. They really find any excuse to party here. I wonder what they would do during an eclipse? We've managed to steer clear of all the partying though and have spent most of our nights playing a mean game of Gin Rummy or reading. How did we get so old???

While on Ko Pha Nang we also spent two nights at a place called The Sanctuary. It was this really cool resort built right into the rock on the hillside of a bay called Haad Thien. Thee was a fancy schmancy spa there, vegetarian restaurant and wellness center that thrived on doing "cleanses" for people. A lot of people go there and stay for two weeks doing an intensive cleanse. We didn't do that but we did kayak, eat and had a shower that was outside! It was nice. We also tried their herbal steam room.

Tomorrow we're headed to Ko Tao for diving and our last rest/relaxation before heading back to Bangkok before flying home. Don't forget that we have a two day layover in Hawaii so if we aren't broke by then, we definitely will be by the time we get home:) I'll write more after we dive. I can't wait to see Gabriel's face after his first ocean dive.

Sorry so short but internet is pricier in the islands. I hope all is well with you.

Love and kisses, B & G

Loving the Island Life!

Hello! We are officially in the Thai islands. We arrived on Ko Samui last night after traveling all day from the other coast. Though traveling is long, they make it very easy for you. All we did was pay $20/each and we were chauffered from one side of the country to the other. We barely had to think at all, just follow as we went from a boat to a bus to a ferry. So, here we are. Ko Samui is very developed and tourist-centric so we decided to stay on a more laid-back part of the island, away from the crowds. We rented a little bungalow with en-suite bathroom and a fan for $12/night. It's perfect and it's right on the beach! We'll stay here until tomorrow and then take the ferry over to Ko Phang Nang. This is the island that is famous for it's full moon parties. In the high season they have over 30,000 people come to the island for the world's biggest rave. We just missed it (on purpose) and are hoping that our experience there is a little more low-key. We have one more island to visit after Ko Phang Nang and that is Ko Tao (Ko means island if you haven't picked up on that yet). Ko Tao is where we plan on going diving! We're still not sure if we'll have time to get to Cambodia yet but we haven't ruled it out completely.

Gabriel is off riding a rented moped right now. I told him that I wouldn't get on the back of it until he practices riding around town first. Even then, he'll have to pass my tests before I'll commit to jumping on the back. It's not so much driving the motorbike as it is remembering to drive on the left side of the road. As a DAN field rep selling DAN insurance I know that moped accidents are EXTREMELY common among tourists. That fact has landed me an upsell to the Preferred Plan many times:)

The last couple of beach places were amazing with limestone and granite cliffs that took your breath away. We've met a couple of nice couples. One brother/sister duo from South Korea that we hung out with in Sukkothai. We've noticed that many of the conversations we have with foreigners usually lead to a political talk about the upcoming elections in the US. Everyone wants to know if we think Obama can win it:) And, of course, we proudly say "YES HE CAN!" It's really not until you leave the States that you realize how much of an impact our politics have on the rest of the world and how involved they are in it.

I wish we could post more pictures but we found that when we do, they erase from our camera. Perhaps we will try again later. I better go find Gabriel and hope he made it back safely.

Love you all! Don't forget to email.

Monkeys monkeys everywhere!

Hello all! I don't have much time to write because we're in a remote village on the beach. All of their power is run off generators so we can't email until after 6pm (when the generators are running) and it's kind of expensive. We are in Ao Ton Sai for those of you who would like to look it up...it's near Krabi on the western side of Thailand. It's GORGEOUS here! There are literally monkeys everywhere. I can't wait to show Brandon the pictures of the monkeys here. One species is all gray with white circles around it's eyes and mouth...and a white tail. They are so cool looking. We will be here for a few more days and then head off...not sure where yet. But, just wanted to let everyone know that we are safe and still having a great time.

I'll write more later!

p.s. We took a bus from Sukkothai (not to be confused with Chillicothe) to Bangkok and then another bus down here. It took us about 24 hours...whew! But we did manage to see the most beautiful temple in Sukkothai (Wat Sri Chum). Our pilgrimage was a success!

Leaving Chiang Mai

We're just about to head to the train station to catch a bus to Sukkothai. We're making our own pilgrimage to the Buddha hand we've seen so many times and have fallen in love with so we can take a picture. The bus ride should take around 5 hours. We'll stay two nights checking out the ruins and then head back to Bangkok to catch an overnight bus to Krabi (the beach!). If we plan it right, we won't have to stay long in Bangkok.

The last two days in Chiang Mai have been AMAZING! We did two different excursions. The first one was called "Flight of the Gibbon" and it was a zip line tour of the rainforest. We spent the whole day zipping from one tree to the next sometimes as high as 225 ft in the air! It was incredible! We were on the trip with a couple from Ireland, a couple from Israel and one guy from England. None of us knew eachother before the trip but we all got along really well. We took pictures of eachother and exchanged email addresses. We even took a small trek up to a waterfall together after the zip lines. It was so much fun and the most beautiful scenery. I can't even describe how gorgeous and massive these trees were! Hopefully we can post some pictures later.

The second excursion we took was to the Elephant Nature Park up north. You might have seen something about it on the Discovery Channel or National Geographic. Basically one woman is trying to change the plight of the Asian Elephant. Those elephants are revered here in theory, they are seen mainly as a source of revenue. Elephants were mostly used in logging but when logging became illegal in 1985, the domestic elephants were out of a job and had no where to go. Many of them were just released into the wild without the skills necessary to survive. Others have been taken into the cities to enthrall tourists. There are no laws around domestic elephants, they are viewed no different than livestock. So many of them are overworked, beaten into submission and live very sad lives. Lek Chaillert has single-handedly tried to save these domesticated elephants. She now has a compound that houses over 30 elephants that she has rescued. Some of them stepped on landmines in Burma or were beaten blind my their mahout (owner). She has a staff of over 85 employees who take care of the elephants and she has started a program called Jumbo Express that takes medicine and vet care for elephants to secluded villages. She hopes that, through education, the elephant in Thailand can have a future. It costs her $250,000/year to run her compound and it is funded solely through volunteer work and donations. We paid to go for one day but you can stay there for weeks at a time as a volunteer if you wish. We were picked up in a van and taken to the local market to help pack up their truck with elephant food (bananas, pineapple, corn, etc.). Then we drove over an hour to the compound where the moment you enter, elephants are roaming free. We got to feed the elephants and help bathe them in the river. It was extraordinary! Something you could never experience in the States because of liability. They train and retrain all of the elephants using positive reinforcement. Brandon and Martha, you would have LOVED this place. I think you should study the Asian Elephant Brandon!!!! They are beautiful and so sweet. We even got kissed my a baby elephant...it feels like a little suction cup:) We'll post pictures soon.

Ok, I have to go so we don't miss our bus. I'll write more later!

Love you all!

Chiang Mai

Hello friends and family!
We're up north in Chiang Mai right now. We took an overnight train from Bangkok which was pretty cool. Bangkok is the second largest city in Thailand but only has 250,000 people living in it. It has been really nice getting out of the big city. You can walk anywhere here so we've done a TON of walking. Both of us are even kind of sore from all of the walking. Luckily you can get a foot massage here for only $2/ half an hour which we both indulged in yesterday. We are staying at this funky little backpacker place called Julie's Guest House (I like the name:) that has more white backpackers than we know what to do with from all over the world. One thing we have noticed is the abundance of women traveling both in groups and by themselves. There is probably a ratio of 3 to 1 in favor of women travelers here. Something you probably wouldn't see if you were in Egypt but here, women have no problem traveling on their own.
So this place is FILLED with people trying to sell you on excursions. You can go visit the hilltribe peoples (like the long-neck women), go riding on an elephant, whitewater rafting, climbing and trekking. We are leaning towards a zip line tour of the jungle. There is a lot of controversy about supporting the exploitation of the long-neck women who are being used as tourist bait for the Thai government. Also, a lot of the elephant operations here don't really take very good care of their elephants by over-working them and providing poor living conditions. Therefore, we decided to go with an excursion that did not involve these things. We'll let you know how it goes.
Last night we went to a street market. They close down this popular street every Saturday night and people come to sell their wares. You see a lot of the same stuff as everywhere else but this was nice because there were actually Thai people there shopping instead of just foreigners. Gabe ate some questionable food trying to get the full Thai experience. Luckily he didn't decide to try the cockroaches and other insects they had for sale to eat. It was a great experience and we bought some cool stuff to bring home.
So finally I wanted to mention that we heard the song "West Virginia" play again today in a restaurant. Not sure what the fascination is with that song but I will continue to document how many times we hear it while we are here.
We're not sure where we are going to go after this. Probably down south to the beaches which means we either fly (that's expensive) or take the train back to Bangkok and then a bus down to the beach. The world's largest Full Moon Party takes place on July 19th on an island down south. They have anywhere from 8,000-30,000 people come to one particular island for the party. We've decided not to go because we would rather spend our beach time with each other rather than 10,000 other tripping foreigners. So we'll probably head to the other side of the country first to miss the crowds and then visit Ko Tao later to go diving!
Ok, well we miss all of you and would love to hear from you. It costs us only 50 cents for an hour of internet use so feel free to send an email or two. We'll try to post some pictures now.

Love, B & G

p.s. Mom and Dad- please love on the kids for us!!!!

P.S.

Julie, please tell Eric Douglas that the Thai people love West Virginia. Yesterday we heard that song again in the restaurant we ate lunch in...so very very random! Go John Denver!

Thai massage is the bomb!

Just a quick note before we start our day. Today is a new day. Gabe feels great and the sun is shining. We weren't able to see the Grand Palace yesterday because it was a Buddhist holiday but we're about to go there now. Instead we saw a sitting Buddha and a HUGE standing Buddha at two different temples. Then we took a tour of the canals of Bangkok. They call it the Venice of the East. We then came back and both got an hour long Thai massage for $6 each! It was amazing! Everyone should try it at least once. We'll be going as often as possible.

Tonight we are trying to catch an overnight train to Chiang Mai. We'll post again from there. Hope everyone is doing well. We miss you all and love you!

Couple notes for future travel to Bangkok:
1. Don't trust the Tuk-tuk drivers
2. the restaurant Whole Earth no longer exists
3. Watch for dog poop on the street

We're HERE!!!!

Well, we made it. It was a LONG day or two of traveling but we arrived last night around 9pm our time and 8 am your time. We are 11 hours ahead of you, just an FYI. We've already had some good fortune...and some misfortune. For one, we met a couple who was on our plane and were able to share a cab with them to our hotel...that saved us some money. We met them in the Tokyo airport which was really nice by the way. We were able to get in 10 minutes of a chair massage before boarding the next plane to Bangkok. I even purchased some Japanese socks for the plane ride that separate my big toe out from others in case I ever want to wear them with flip-flops...how convenient!

All of our luggage arrived in Thailand, thank goodness. We are very proud because both of our packs only weigh about 20 lbs each...we did a good job:) We took the cab with our new friends, checked into our hotel which is very basic but fortunately has an internet cafe downstairs. Then we decided to venture to the famous Khao San Road to check it out. There was so much to see, street vendors, models getting their picture taken and even a baby elephant that Gabriel got to touch!! We sat down at a street side cafe to have a beer and ended up sitting next to another couple that I recognized from our plane. So we had a nice time chatting with them. After a couple of local beers (called Chang) we headed back towards the hotel and stopped at one more place that had live music. There was a Thai band playing that song "West Virginia", you know, Moutain momma. It was hysterical. They played all random songs from the US. There were so many tourists in the bar, it was like Spring Break or something. We just stayed for a beer and decided to go to bed. People can get into a lot of trouble here.

So the misfortune came this morning. We haven't even been here for 24 hours and Gabe threw up. Nothing to worry about, he feels fine now. He thinks maybe he just needed to get it out of the way. It's bound to be my turn soon I'm sure:) So besides that, everything is great! We are getting ready to head out to see the Grand Palace with the famous Emerald Buddha made out of jade. And then to Wat Po, a temple that houses the reclining Buddha. It's raining here, as we expected it would, but at least it's not super hot. We'll take plenty of pictures and hopefully post some on here soon.

So the adventure begins. Just wanted to let everyone we got here safely. Love you all and miss you already! I can't believe I'm in Thailand!!!!

Love you!

Living the Motto

We are down to 20 hours and counting before take-off. We currently still do not have a hotel reservation for our arrival in Bangkok and have many many things to do before departure...like I need to apply for a grad school loan yet today. Therefore, during this high stress time, I am going to employ our new motto " Mai pen rai" and tell myself to Not Worry. It will all work out.

Gabriel and I have been in Ohio for the last 5 days preparing for our trip and visiting my friends and family. Gabriel even got the chance to visit Van Wert, Ohio to meet my grandma and extended family. We've had a good time and he has been great with all of the new introductions.

We're still not quite sure about our itinerary. We have more guide books than we know what to do with (thanks mom!) so I'm sure we'll be prepared. Our latest development has been the exclusion of Cambodia from our trip. We're just not sure we'll have enough time so we're going to keep it for the end of the trip and only do it if there is time. We want to make sure we can spend some time down south on the beaches! Gabriel is now officially a SCUBA diver so hopefully we'll get a chance to take him on his first ocean dive!!!!!!!

That's it for now. Maybe more before we go. Make sure you check the blog while we're gone. I can't promise we'll have updates up in a timely manner but we'll do our best. So maybe don't make it your #1 priority to check it everyday but at least once a week would be nice:)

Trip Motto

So Gabriel has come up with a trip motto for us that we will use when we face the obstacles of traveling in a foreign country (i.e. when we are getting sick from the food or miss our train for the 100th time).

The motto is "Mai pen rai" which simply means "Don't worry"

Feel free to use it in your daily life:)

6 Days....

I can't believe time has gone by as fast as it has. There are only 6 days left before we leave for Ohio. Of course before we leave we need to be completely ready for Colorado so when we return, we'll be set to go. I've definitely gone through my periods of freak out, anxiety, fear, sadness and stress. But now I am just READY! I can't wait! I am so excited for this next chapter in my life and even though it is sad to say goodbye, it won't be forever.

DAN threw me a goodbye party yesterday and unveiled the new "Brittny Davis Wellness Resource Center". This will be my legacy:) They have purchased a couple of book shelves to create the beginning of a wellness library at DAN. I just finished up doing a 4 week yoga workshop here with about 10 people to help them create a personal practice for themselves since I won't be here anymore to teach them. I had them all pay $15 per person and I am using the money to purchase books, DVD's, CD's to put in the resource center for everyone to use. They even got a plaque with my name on it for the shelves so it's official...I now have a library named after me:) Everyone was extremely nice and shared funny stories about me. They even all chipped in money to get me some Visa gift cards to use for gas money out to Colorado! It was really sweet and very challenging to not get too emotional...especially concerning Julie and not working with her anymore. I have a feeling my days with DAN are not over yet. Hopefully I'll be able to do some rep work in Colorado for DAN and work with the dive shops there.

Gabriel's last day at the Mellow Mushroom is today. He will be missed there. I believe they are having a farewell/birthday party for him on Sunday. That leaves the next 5 days to packing up and moving it all into storage. The plan is to move everything into storage and then come August, we'll move what we want to take to Colorado into a semi that will deliver to our house in Longmont and the rest will go with my parents back to Ohio for storage.

I would like to make a public statement thanking my parents for all of their help! They are also graciously helping us by babysitting Sedona, Duncan and Diego for the 5 weeks that we are gone. I'm not exactly sure how I talked them into that one but I'm pretty sure, though it will be a lot of work, they are going to LOVE it. Ohio here we come!

3 Weeks and Counting

So my last day at DAN is exactly 3 weeks from today and we are leaving the following day for Ohio. Before then I have to:

1. tie up loose ends at work (clean out desk, shred files, attend my going away party)
2. find a storage unit for our stuff
3. sort through everything I own and make a pile to give away
4. sort through everything I own and make a pile to take to Colorado
5. " " " to store in Ohio
6. create packing list for Thailand
7. pack for Thailand
8. create itinerary for Thailand
9. teach Gabriel and our friend Kristin to Scuba dive
10. figure out the best way to transport two dogs and 1 cat in a station wagon for 9 hours
11. figure out the best way to ship our stuff to Colorado
12. figure out what is the best thing to do with my 403B and Roth IRA
13. apply for another school loan
14. plan a party for Gabriel's birthday

the list goes on and on....

Though I feel ahead of the game on some things, I feel like I am running out of time of almost everything else. But, in the end, I know it will all work out. It always does. In the meantime, a quick note to self...and to others that may be reading this...I highly recommend NOT going out of the country for a whole month before you move ACROSS the country. It seemed like such a great idea at the time. Now I just have to make sure I get everything done and into place before we leave so I can actually enjoy my vacation:)

First time for everything.

So I figured with all the changes coming about in my life, a blog might be the most effective way to keep everyone up-to-date on where I am and how I'm doing.

By the way, if I haven't talked to you lately...I'm doing GREAT!

I only have one month left of work at Divers Alert Network before I join the ranks of the unemployed, my last day is June 30th. Then Gabriel and I are packing up, headed to Ohio for one week in early July and then off to Thailand for one month. We will be in Thailand from July 8th-August 8th with a two day layover in Honolulu. We fly back into RDU on the 8th and shortly thereafter, head West to our new home in Longmont, CO. I will be attending Naropa University (Boulder, CO) in the fall to pursue a Masters of Religious Studies with Sanskrit. Yes I realize this is like the oldest, unspoken language on earth but it will help me when I am studying all of the ancient texts that were written in it. Hopefully this will lead to a PhD program in the near future (it's a 2 year program), but for now, I'm just going to enjoy the ride.

The first picture below is my school. There are three campuses. My campus is comprised of about 5 buildings. That's it. At least I won't be running from one class to the other. Naropa was founded in 1974 by a Buddhist monk named Chogyam Trungpa. There are around 1200 students and 2/3 of them are grad students. You can't tell from this photo but there are gorgeous mountains to the right...you have to come visit us!

The next picture is of our new house in Longmont, CO. We move in on August 15th. The owner is a stone sculpter and is leaving some of her artwork which is really cool. There is not a house directly behind it so we have a view of the mountains. There is a big backyard too for the dogs to run around in. We really could not have asked for a more perfect place to live, esp. at such an affordable price. There is a guest bedroom so please come visit!

Longmont is only about 10 miles from Boulder and I will be able to take the bus to school. Hopefully Gabriel will be able to find a cool job with the park or forest service out there. We are near Rocky Mountain National Park and tons of city/state parks.

Ok, well that's the update so far. More on the move and trip to Thailand later. Hope all is well!