20+ hour flight

My parents left around 3 this afternoon for Africa. So with 7 hours under their belts, they only have maybe 16 hours to go or around that long. Wow. Only I guess they also have the 8 hour layover in London to look forward too. I would take advantage of such a long layover, would you? I'd go out and find one of those red buses and do something you could only do in England. So really, they are less than a third through the trip right now! What could you possibly do with all that time? I only know one person who can sleep properly on flights, and I swear he is borderline narcoleptic. I feel for them but if I know my dad he's studying something along the lines of Forex or if he's lucky has has some kind of owners manual to play with. And my mom? If they would only let her take on a needle she could sew the whole way there. I told her to hide it, but what a way to start out your mission being held by authorities for a concealed weapon. Just the thought of being in a plane that long makes me want to run around just because I can!
PS Did you know the Black Mamba snake who lives in Africa can travel at 10 MPH?

Ginko Trees

"Shee wan sheop sheop sayo" This saying doesn't have an exact translation and I'm not even really sure I've got it exactly right, but it means something along the lines of: Even though I'm moving on and I'm sad, I'm excited too and I'll take this experience with me. A friend taught me it the day I left Korea and it kinda applies in my life again wouldn't you think? I did just have a big harry blog entry that went on about all my thoughts on this but I decided against it. I'm working on keeping my e-forms of communication simple right now. I'll tell u a story to support this reasoning, since it puts Signe into fits of hilarity, if you like? Oh, why not?
OK, so Amy set me up with a cute guy a long time ago, her brother in law. "He's perfect for you!" she raves, even his stepmom got in on this and still bugs Amy to this day about the failure of the love that wasn't. Good intentions both of them, but honestly. Anyway, he did turn out to be a good efriend. I emailed him from Korea. He was a really cool, funny guy when I did meet him but because of life that's all there is to that. And while Amy had big plans of setting us up again now in the present I thought epals was more me at the moment. So I decide to email said epal when things settled down in my life and I never heard back from him. Oh well right? Well, Signe is pretty interested in my life as it is these days (a source of entertainment maybe?) and said I should put another email out there (I'm not sure I should admit to this but since I'm already telling this silly story, what the heck? Signe also coached me on how to word the perfect email to get a response. Pathetic? Yeah, a bit! But I don't take this stuff too seriously, we were bored and she was talking about being "The Emailer" so there you have it) And guess what? I get an email back within hours. She really is gifted. So while I'm chatting with the folks on messenger that very night I was goofing off writing a pretend response to The Epal. Of course I'm not sending THIS response, I learn quick my friends. My emails get responses in a month, Signe should proof read and tell me where I'm going wrong, right? (Yes, in the real world I shouldn't bother. If I'm supposed to have an efriend it would be. With out the aid of "The Emailer" but alas, the madness continues in a very messed up Cyrano de Bergerac type story) So I'm goofing off as I told you when the email just disappears....my computer informs me that my message has been sent. Seriously. Come on!! Then and there I know I've ruined all chances at being cool. This is my life right now! You can guess the outcome, I never did hear back from my epal because he most likely thinks I'm estalking him or basically, an efreak. And there you have it. Signe almost punched me when I told her that yes, she is a genius, and no, we won't be writing any more emails cuz I already killed it in an awful fluke technical malfunction. And can I tell you I have learned my lesson! What's that you ask? OK, maybe I haven't learned anything.... I do still giggle to myself when I tell this story to myself! Hopefully I wrote it in a way you could see the humor.
I guess my blog is becoming a log of events in the aftermath of divorce. I didn't expect a lot of the aspects of divorce, unrelated to the story I just told but a thought I've had today anyway. It's like a weird sense, probably imagined, that people look at me like I'm broken, damaged, or baggage ridden. Where would I get this idea? I guess because I've thought it myself about other divorced people, we all know what happens when you make assumptions?
And you are my lucky audience for the stories that come out of living this reality I never saw myself in. What will I come up with next?

movies and such

I don't have much to report except I'm happy it's the weekend and I was pretty excited when I just read in this months W Magazine that one of my favorite books I read this year is being made into a movie. The Nanny Diaries was a fun read, and that's what I've been eating up as of late, I just can't get enough of these girly books, but no worries, I throw in a good spy thriller now and again to even things out. And after reading Cara's list of Top Reads I have my work cut out for me.
I guess sometimes making a movie out of a good book can be bad thing, like Da Vinci Code or Harry Potter... I love the fun way JK Rowlings writes her books way more than the movies. But it can also be a good thing. I LOVED Sense and Sensibility, and Meryl Streep was a picture perfect image of what I imagined the crazy boss should look like in Devil wears Prada.

So I have high hopes that Scarlette Johansson and Alicia Keyes live up to the characters I have imagined, but I have no doubt they will, Johansson is one of my all time fav actresses and Alicia Keyes is just flat out one talented chic.

And in other news, since my missionary parents have been too sick and too tired to write on their blog I'll give u a mini report cuz I'm sure you are all interested. I talked to mom this morning, they are done with their training, so they will spend the next few days catching up on sleep and laundry and getting in some Sports Dance competions at the Y. Mom said, "We're excited and scared!" a bunch of times in her cute croaky voice. I think catching a virus might be something you just do when you go to the MTC? They will be the only welfare missionaries serving 5 countries so they have their work cut out for them! They head to Africa on the 12th, with a 20+ flight and a 8 hour layover in London I'm sure they will be glad to get there and get to work. Be grateful when you are throwing in your regular sized laundry load and think of them, their washer/dryer will only be able to wash a couple of items at a time when they get to Africa, crazy!

Spring Fever

I woke up to a morning that looked a lot like this one (only this photo was taken on a vacation we took to the coast when mom came to visit the country of morning calm, and rightly called that. B-E-A-utiful! Name that movie and u win a prize. I'm still trying to use up all my random photographs that I love)

After a balmy 70 degrees yesterday I was bummed to go back to winter and grudgingly changed my shorts I wanted to bust out for a warm sunny day. I was pleasantly surprised though when the clouds cleared out for another spectacular spring day.

I got into the 'spring' (I heard puniness is silly, but what do I care?) of things and came home after work and planted my flowers I bought last time I thought it was spring, then I had to bring them all inside while things got nasty again for a minute. I picked all of my favorites: geraniums, daisies, and my very favorite, Gardenias! But I'm worried I'll kill those with the help of the ultra dry climate here. I'll try my best to keep them happy, but I don't have much of a gardening gene, so..bless their little hearts for coming home with me. Then I dusted off some sweet lights that my mom passed on to me from Grandmas house, u guys know the ones they have up on the back patio? The cool retro 50ish style flower ones? Ok, I don't know what I'm talking about, but I'll take some pictures and let u be the judge of how cool they are!

I took advantage of the fantastic weather to take Ben's Camaro for a spin around the neighborhood a few times too! Nothing like a fast car and my own built in race track. ie our ultra quiet block. JK, I write this to scare my dad, and maybe Ben, but I don't think he's into blogs.



Tomorrow the boss n I are heading to Vegas on a mission to find the worlds largest magnifying glass. To be found at none other than Pottery Barn Kids, who else would have one right? It's a self assignment really, Jana is already on to decorating her next house and this monster is on sale. We have a couple other rooms we are working on that warrant a trip to the 'big city'. Plus I have some Christmas gift cards to burn so I'm syked!

Double Wammy

While chatting online with the folks tonite I was digging around in the pictures saved on this computer my dad so kindly left behind for me to take over. So in no real order I'm sharing them with you. Nothing like a little photogumbo to get the memories flowing

Good ol' KC!! He moved into this garbage can shortly after he was banned from the house. It fits him and his grumpy attitude. But he has everyone fooled. He's a softy at heart, I also ran across a pic of him cuddling me the day after I sprained my wrist bad snowboarding a couple of winters ago (I'm not sharing that photo, bad up the nose angel!) Good kitty.

This one is of all of us at the park near our apartment, the building in back of us with the crissy cross beams. There were 3 or 4 cool parks in our neighborhood that we frequented at all hours - parks were the busiest after dark in Korea to beat the heat. This park was my favorite cuz it was right on the river and had lots of open space and popsicle stands and the coolest toys (for the kids, of course)

This funky restaurant is in Fukuoka, Japan. While in Korea, I had to leave the country every 3 months on a 'visa run' to stay current on my traveling status. I didn't qualify for a work visa so this was the only way to stay for an extended time. I didn't mind. This trip was way better than the first one I did though. That one involved much bus time, a flight to Tokyo, and a looong night hanging out in the airport only to catch a flight back to Korea in the morning. All for a stamp in my passport. Hey, it was fun. But not as fun as wandering around Fukuoka for a few days totally enjoying balmy warm weather in the middle of the coldest winter I've ever experienced back in Seoul.

Our mode of transportation! We all loved this van. My first thought when I saw it was of Miles yelling, 'The Libyans are coming!!' He was yelling this over and over one funny trip to the airport when I was young and impressionable, I always crack up when Miles is along, he makes everything hilarious. I think it's from Back to the Future?

This van rocked! Cari and I had the sweetest seats. They were the second row and swiveled to face forwards OR backwards! If you held the latch up while turning a corner you could do a 360 with the momentum of the turn. Only tried this move a couple times, I didn't want to break my awesome seat, or get kicked out for monkeying around! Another cool feature: the steering wheel was on the right side. Ben loved getting looks for this feature. Once, we got pulled over and the cop was practically yelling with frustration (I think so at least, really, I always thought they were yelling) at Kwona to show him her ID (they were looking for a escaped convict, seriously) and she kept telling him 'But I'm not driving!'

RIP bad boy, Ben left it with Jon when they moved back to Seattle, and he killed it.

Last but not least, are they not the cutest? I know, your kids are cute too, but I'm their aunt so... ;) It looks to me like Dillon is protecting Devin, see the sword? I like the spidey theme too, they are both pretty much obsessed with Spiderman, I guess all little guys are? Keeping with the theme of Korea stories, Devin had this awesome Spiderman costume he wore A LOT there. Once he wore it to the park and the kids there SWARMED him saying "SPIDERMAN!!" "SPIDERMAN!!" and chatting to him in Korean. I wasn't there but mom said he was pretty freaked out by all the attention. What does he expect being a super hero and all?

SANCTUARY!

No, I'm not having a hunch back moment. I spent Saturday at the sanctuary in Kanab again with a bunch of dogs. I really can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon. When I checked in the guy said I could pick where I worked. I knew where I wanted to go but I didn't want to ask in case he needed help somewhere else. But he made my day when he told me to go to The Garden. (That is where Gibson lives.) Gib wasn't in his run so I was a mix of really excited and a little sad that he might have found a home.
I swept out the indoor part of the dog runs, cleaned off the dogie beds and made friends with about 14 dogs. I think it is so fun to see the different personalities (or should I say dogalities?) of all of my furry little friends. I walked about 12 dogs after I helped clean up. Clemence would be the first dog I'd take home with me. He was a mini Gib with his in your face personality and a strong desire to be scratched and loved. The guy who stole my heart though was Eddie. A golden boy with sad eyes and extremely shy. Brian, the caregiver was surprised I even got Eddie to come to me. On our walk Eddie didn't want to get too close, he'd give me a weary look if I moved towards him. I gave him lots of time to linger and sniff, I feel silly to admit, I talked to him a lot. Once while he spent some time sniffing I sat down in the sand to wait. He kept his distance, but kept an eye on me. He edged closer until I could scratch him. He seemed to warm to this and before I knew it he had his head resting on my shoulder totally loving the attention. He didn't like it if I looked at him, so I just scratched and talked. At the end of the day all the dogs were laying around relaxing, Tux was stretched out humming to himself, he's a cute dog featured on the website a lot, looks like he's wearing... a tux, u are so right!
Are you wondering where Gib was? I asked Brian if he knew Gib, and he said, "The tall guy with skinny legs?" Yup that's him, with a howl like no other? "OH YEAH! That's him, it's higher than all the other dogs and so different!" He told me Gib had left that morning on a mobile adoption to Vegas. So I won't know the outcome until next time but you'll be the first to know. Next trip up I'll go ask to go to The Clubhouse, maybe I'll get to see that other crazy mutt I love.
If I won a million dollars I would either A - move to Kanab, build an awesome house in the canyon and volunteer at BestFriends all the time and take home enough dogs to have a my own sanctuary at home. Or B - Start my own type of best friends somewhere and find people to help rehabilitate aggressive dogs because that's what the caregivers say is the hardest part there, they haven't found a way to help their aggressive dogs much so they never find homes.

Small Town

Pretend with for a minute that you are in my position, newly single and a little hesitant about going out and being in the land of the dating again. I thought I'd be fine with it, I feel fine 97% of the time, maybe a little shaky truthfully, but I think I'm dealing with it as well as anyone could. I have a weird unexplained fear of running into people I know in public who know me as Mrs. and having to explain to them why I'm out with someone other than Mr. Can you make sense of this?

So this is where the story of coincidences begin... I don't know what makes me want to tell this story. I guess it's just such a 'jois de vevre' type experience. (A joy for life? my own interpretation) and the funny way things become real clear to me in the most random events. Wish I could explain this better. It's 3 in the morning, give me a break! (yeah I took excedrin late in the day again, when will I learn?) Maybe I feel like sharing because I had the disappointment of a stinkin' Grey's rerun this week and I feel the need to fill that empty drama hole in my life?

I have a friend who I met a few years ago at the golf course. He was a caddy for a golfer on the PGA tour at the time so I saw him when they were in town. I had a serious boyfriend at the time and while I would love to spin this part of the story differently and make myself look like a better person than I was then, I ended up going out with this caddy friend of mine and kissing him and deceiving my boyfriend. Well, the boyfriend found out (because I told him) and decided he could forgive me and we moved on in our relationship, a pointless one at that since I knew I wanted more from life than until death do us part but who was I to remind myself of that simple fact when I thought I knew what I wanted? Oh, hindsight...

This caddy friend of mine (Garrett) and I have stayed in contact over the years through email mostly. We turned out to be able to be friends better than anything else so when he asked if I wanted to hang out tonight I was only just a little freaked out. Not because of him, I just knew it would hurt some to be out with someone other than my husband but I knew I needed to make that first step and who better to spend time with than a guy I could trust to be a friend right? Right.

He recently bought a condo so imagine my delight when he said he'd like input on it, we all know I LOVE DECORATING! It was a good way to get together, we picked out a bunch of cool stuff for his place and I had fun putting it all together for him. (I have a ton more ideas too, wonder when he'll tell me he's had enough decorating??) Ben and Kwona called while I was there and he was cool about me hiding out for a minute to talk to them. They asked how life was as of late. What can I say? Good, fine, boring, lonely, exciting, different, scary? What adjective best fits my ever changing feel for life? I told them my weirdness about not wanting to run into anyone and my desire to move away from it all. I couldn't explain it to them any better than I just tried to for you, so I figured I was being lame and Garrett and I went out to meet up with a bunch of his friends at a popular sushi bar in town.

This is the good part, the part that had Garrett and I totally cracking up after the fact. While we were waiting for our table Garrett says ever so casually, "Dallas is in there." Yup, Dallas, as in the boyfriend from the past. Not only was Dallas in there, but every_single_friend I had from that time were all inside the door looking out at me. A birthday party was to blame. It was the most strange experience I've had in at least awhile, though it rivals with a lot of things these days. I always knew I'd run into Dallas at some point. St. George is tiny like that. But of all days to see him since I saw him last more than 2 years ago, I'm with Garrett, who I also hadn't seen in as many years! Talk about timing! I felt like I was outside my body watching this all happen and laughing at someone other than myself! Although I keep in contact with some of those friends they were all still in the dark about my divorce. I don't advertise it. I could almost smell the engines burning in the rumor mill that is the underground heartbeat of St. George. It may be the biggest small town in existence. I am sometimes baffled at how we all connect somehow, its like that seven links to Kevin Bacon thing. I can meet someone totally new and in about a minute we've discovered we're practically related and best friends with all the same people and have the same stylist and vet, then we run into each other everywhere. I'm not kidding. It's a love/hate thing.

So not only did I face down a silly fear in a pretty big way, how many more people could I tell in one night that I was divorced? I also put to rest a feeling like I'd never not feel like I was missing out on my old life. Honestly, I haven't felt that way in a long time, but I don't know if I can explain to you what seeing this group of people from the outside would have done to me back when being in the mix was so very important to me. Something I never thought would happen, happened when I wasn't paying attention.. My goal of becoming a better centered person seems to be on track. All I felt was love for my old friends and didn't feel left out at all from the exciting but misdirected life I used to lead. I am happy to report progress. Did it take any of you as long at it's taken me to know who you are and stand up for it?

ps. are you wondering what the picture has to do with any of this? Nothing really, I just thought it was awesome and it fits for me in a unexplainable way. Courtesy of the talented artist MDK. I asked permission to use it, then went ahead and took it without consent, he wasn't up this early to tell me no. Thanks! :)

Ok, I promise I won't blog anymore in the middle of the nite. I'm tempted to delete this one and call it a night, but that's a good half hour of soul pouring and I don't want to have nothing to show for my insomnia in the morning!