Lowering Sails

Ann & Me riding the booms and bringing down the sails while guests look on.

This photo was taken by one of the guests aboard our ship for the canon battle at the Tall Ships Festival. I think it's a pretty cool shot, with both of us riding. It's also nice to have since I don't have many photos of myself hard at work while crewing the boat. I look determined...or scared...haha.

Food

Food: Vietnamese. Scott, Alicia, Phil and I cooked a Vietnamese meal (my first!) recently, and it was delicious. I bought a Vietnamese cookbook a couple of months ago because I wanted to start learning how to cook all the dishes that I loved eating while growing up. We made spring rolls for an appetizer, and chicken with ginger in a caramel sauce, sauteed green beans and steamed rice for the main dish. Nothing fancy. It was fun cooking with friends, and I'm glad my first attempt at Vietnamese cuisine went well.

Food: early Thanksgiving. Phil's mom was in town last weekend and cooked a tasty Thanksgiving dinner for him, his brother, and their friends. Yum. I love Thanksgiving meals and was pretty excited that I was going to get to eat it a couple of times this year.

Food: not settling well. I was working a sleepover program this past Wednesday night, and although I tried to hang in there and stay, I ended up going home at midnight. Some sort of stomach bug caused nasty things to happen to my body. Nasty things as in stuff coming out both ends. Over...And over again. Painful. Ugly. Nasty. That was probably too much information, sorry. But everyone else around me heard about it, so I thought I shouldn't leave you guys in the dark.

Food: not eating it. Sadly, due to whatever bug I had, Thanksgiving came and went and I didn't get to enjoy another yummy meal. I ate a tiny bit at my Aunt & Uncle's house, but didn't get to enjoy it like normal (as in stuff myself with pumpkin pie and stuffing, two of my favorites, and everything else.) I actually slept most of the time I was over at the family's, got home at 5pm and went to bed until 8 the next morning. Ugh. Being sick sucks. Friday, all I could stomach the whole day was 6 saltine crackers.

Food: eating it again! I ate my first meal again yesterday. Yay! The bug's gone, and I'm back to normal.

Food: okay, enough talk about it. Until next time...

Checklist

Ticket to India, check.
Vaccinations, check.
Cut my hair, check.
Travel visa, check (Well, almost. I don't physically have it yet, but It's currently being processed.)
Lonely Planet guide, check.

The trip is coming up quickly, and I'm almost all set to go. I haven't been abroad since my trip to Europe in 2004, so it is very exciting that I get to travel again! Although excited, I'm also pretty nervous about going for some reason. Watched Darjeeling Limited this week to gear up for the adventure in India...
Not only do I get to travel, but I get to experience an Indian wedding. And not just any Indian wedding, but one of my dearest friends is getting married. Soon, Resh will be married and living in Boston. Wow. We're all really growing up, aren't we?...

Quote-o-the-day

Conversation between Kiernan and me while I was watching him (3 yrs old) and his little brother Miles (6 months old) a few weeks back.

Kiernan: (asked me a question, i don't remember what it was.)
Me: Because I'm babysitting you and Miles.
Kienan: NO, you're BABY-sitting Miles. You're BIG-BOY-sitting me!

Now that there's a baby in the house, he is no longer a baby and is now a big boy. Haha. Kids are so funny and can say the darnedest things. I can't believe that he walks and talks and is a little person now! So cute.

Letting Go

I had been talking about chopping my hair off for a long time now and just never got around to doing it. The truth was, although I wanted to cut it, I had become quite attached to my long hair and couldn't bring up the nerve to let it go. But it was time, I had to just jump right in and do it--and I finally did it last night. The hair was put in a ponytail and 10 inches was cut off, which will be donated to Locks of Love. It's a little weird having short hair again, and I am feeling a little sad about the loss of something I had become attached to. But it's good to let go....Sometimes, you just have to release your grip and let go...