cutest dog on the planet

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Party Poem

November 2nd, the day I was born,
There was a party that excluded corn.

We sat by the fire cuz it was quite cold,
Embarrassing stories of Adrienne were told.

No wheat and no eggs, so what of a cake?
Thank goodness for Whole Foods and roommates that bake.
Necklaces, jam, a book full of pics,
Earrings, a wallet-what a great present mix!

And then Ali stated, a grin on her face,
"Let's have a dance party and tear up this place!"

So Kelly and Kanye and Justin sang loud,
We started to dance and drew quite a crowd.


Me, Kate and Charlie, and what are you viewing?
My fingers look crazy...what am I doing?

Dancing and singing and candles and food,
Presents and pictures, and now to conclude,

We had lots of fun, the party was great,
And all my dear friends helped me greet 28!

Dancin', Dancin', Dancin'...Dancin' Machine

This weekend, as some fellow bloggers have blogged, was the wedding of some good friends, Jason & Emily. I really don't know when I've been more excited for two people to get married. It was the perfect outdoor wedding...unbelievable weather and beautiful scenery.

After the ceremony, some food and a little wine, I noticed that there was dancing. Now, let me tell you a little something about myself-I am no great dancer. I am (a) no good dancer. But I looooves to dance! So I decided that because I was among friends I would let loose. And it was good...

Ugh

So...I thought I was going to write this great blog about one of my favorite pictures of me and my Mom from last Christmas, but I can't upload the picture! It may (aka: is for sure) be me that is the problem. I'll keep trying and see what happens. I can't write about the picture without having the actual picture for you to see!

Tonight I went to Baja with Kate, Krista and Nicole to enjoy a delicious plate of rice, beans and chicken with a sprinkling of cheese. My efforts to not eat wheat, yeast, eggs or corn (for those of you who don't know, during the past 2 weeks I have not eaten the previous foods unless totally by accident) have gone pretty well. The guy who was serving my food tonight must have thought I wanted all the rice and beans in the place because he sure did pile 'em on. It was a little overwhelming. So I took my plate, heaping with food, outside to eat and it was the first time this fall that I've been cold...outside. It was an exciting and slightly miserable moment for me. It was fun to sit, shiver and try to force feed myself. I gave up on the rice and beans but look forward to lots and lots of nights of trying to keep warm.

Internet and Trashy Shows!

I'm sitting in my room, Jake asleep next to my chair, and realizing that it's been 9 months since my last post. Now, in all fairness, I didn't have my computer set up (BIG ole' desktop) nor did I have Internet at my house until I moved a few months ago.
Why you might ask? A question that haunts me to this day. How did I survive without checking "the superficial" and "Perez Hilton" every night before I go to bed? And what did I do when I couldn't check my email 5 times a day just to delete all the spam I get? The questions just don't seem to end...
But those days are behind me. I have Internet! And, sadly, cable! Why sadly? Let me tell you why..."Rock of Love", "The Pick-Up Artist", "E!". These few (and many, many more) have created lots of late nights and meaningless hours sitting on Kate's comfy couches...just watching TV. And when I look at that list I'm ashamed (yet strangely not ashamed of the time logged onto the superficial or Perez)! What are these shows? Glorified trash. But do I tune in every week to see what happens...you bet your bottom dollar!
Although this post is short and I have no pictures to add, I'm proud to start this new chapter in my life. Letting my friends and family who know me well read about things they probably already know or never knew they didn't want to know. Oh the glories of the Internet...

Indonesian Christmas

Ok...I realize that it took me coming all the way over to Indonesia to write a new blog...but whatever...

Here's the short version of how my sister Jamie and I got here and what we've done in the past few days with my mom-or as short as I can make it.

Jamie and I met up in LA on Saturday, Dec. 16th. We flew out that night on our 14+ hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan. Surprisingly, the trip was not unbearable. We had "on demand" movies, some random music and TV and video games. Plus, we slept as much as we could. All in all, not a bad plane ride.

We landed in Taipei at 5am (Taipei time that is) on Monday, Dec. 18th. We spent a few hours there wondering the halls of the airport feeling farther and farther from home. Although there were Christmas decorations, english music and signs in english, I think of the 4 hours we were there I only heard one other person speak english...fluently.

We boarded our final flight into Jakarta, Indonesia around 9am. It was about a 5 hour flight and again, not too bad. When we landed in Jakarta it was HOT and MUGGY to say the least. The airport was like none I'd ever seen. It was so simple and pretty but not like an airport at all. Jamie and I headed to the bathroom and discovered that out of the 4 stalls only 2 were "sit down" toilets. The others were built into the floor and apparently you kinda stand/squat to use it. Needless to say we both opted for the ole familiar "sit down".

We waited in line to get out tourist visa and quickly discovered that the Indonesian people not only have a very tiny personal space bubble but they will take advantage of any open space in front of you in line. We made it through and finally got our bags and started searching for Mom. I looked over at a group of people, all of whom were obviously waiting for their friends and family to get off the plane, to see a tall, blonde, fair skinned woman amidst a sea of small, dark haired, dark skinned faces. It was of course my sweet mom. When we finally made it to her she was crying a little...half from the excitement of seeing us and half from worry. It had been an hour since our plane had landed and she was feeling nervous for us. But we had finally made it!

We no sooner turned around to find Mom's driver Tarsono than he popped out of no where to greet us with a smile and handshake. He took Jamie's rickety bag and began to roll it to the car. I jumped in the front seat (did you expect any different?) which also happened to be the drivers side in American cars. Here in Indo the driver sits on the right and front seat passengers on the left. That has taken some getting used to. I also had to get used to all the gila (crazy that is) driving. Mom had told us about it and I quickly discovered that all her outlandish stories were no exaggeration. Quite literally if there was a foot or even an inch of space between, behind or in front of someone was going to take it. There are thousands, and I mean thousands, of motorbike weaving in and out of cars. Some held just the driver, most a driver and passenger or two. There were even family's all riding one bike...mom, dad and a few kids (and I mean kids under 5). It's truly a sight to behold. But to Tarsono's credit I have yet to feel nervous in the car. Now that is saying something!


We got to Mom's apartment building and when we walked in the door Yoyo was here just a workin' away. She is so sweet and to tiny! I was so glad to finally meet her. She has been so good to my mom these past few years and now I can see why Mom loves her so much.

That first day/evening was mostly trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was actually here, on the other side of the world, visiting my mom. Yoyo made us dinner (a popular dinner called Soto Ayam, kind of chicken/potato soup...kinda). It was good but I was BEAT! We put our PJ's on (at least I did) around 6:30pm and started watching TV. I was fighting sleep and finally at 7 gave in. Right before I fell asleep Mom gave me half a sleeping pill so that I would sleep through the night and not wake up at 2am for 4 hours. Well that mixed with jet lag carried me all the way to 6:30am the next morning. At that point I was feeling much better!

That morning the three of us just lazed around and about 8am we went to my mom's school building. It's a beautiful building and also happens to have two swimming pools. We went swimming and it was so fun. Did I mention that it was beautiful?


The rest of the afternoon was spent at the grocery store and the mall. Again, lots of english but still very different. That night we went into Jakarta (about 1 1/2 hours from the city Mom lives in...Lippo Karawaci). She has some American friends who live there and we went for dinner. They have a HUGE house that is just beautiful. We had a great dinner and they were very sweet people.

This morning, Wednesday, we woke up early and Tarsono met us around 7:30 to head to Taman Safari. It was a couple of hours away but so fun. There were lots of animals and most of them came up to the car to eat. People were selling carrots outside of the Safari for us to feed the animals with. It was crazy! One zebra even bit and broke a little part of Mom's car! This particular lama just looked crazy to me so I took a quick pic...



After that we went to Puncak Pass which is like a mountain/area. We drove up and up passing tea fields. It was so pretty. We ate at a beautiful restaurant at the top and had lots of fun. We drove home and watched a movie. I'm about to fall asleep so I must go but I will try to update every few days. If not I will tell you all about it and show you all the pictures when I get home.

Until next time...

titanic

okay, so it's not really a secret that i LOVE the movie titanic. not a secret at all in fact. i'll shout it loud and proud from the rooftops...I LOVE TITANIC (echoing down below)! why you may be asking yourself? well there are a few key ingredients that make this move so great.

1-leo...i mean come on. he's not my most favorite movie star (um, orlando anyone?) but he is one hot poor, world-traveling artist. and so sweet in the movie. but mostly just yummy...
2-that dang celion dion song...i can't get it out of my head. i mean i love celion anyway-cheesy yes, but the girl can sing. but that song (except for that version everyone hated with clips from the movie here and there throughout the song) i just love it!
3-it's just so sad. i cry every time. the end when they are reunited on the stairs...by the clock? man, it kills me every time. i remember one time in college watching it with LOTS of folks i didn't know and crying...loud and hard-so much so that i couldn't stop.

what a great movie!!!