back to civilization

well back to singapore- and whilst i do enjoy blow drying my hair with air conditioning, which prevents the necessity of yet another shower after drying my hair- i again find myself sleeping on a mattress on the floor! haha how did it come to this? i am supposed to come home to luxury and proper bedding! ;) well this year our apartment is smaller, but really nice, so al and i are sharing my dad's office so we have a mattress on the floor that covers the entire area of space, so our suitcases are loaded up onto desks. during the day we push the matress up on its side- i imagine this would be like what living in new york would be like!

being home is always really nice and although the first night i thought i was going to go insane because i was missing bali so much, i realized that nothing will be different when i go back and it will all be ready and waiting....well the people will change as they always do but everything else will still be there!

i have been thinking a lot too about how fast this year has gone for me. the last couple of days have brought some hard news to several different people i know and love and i have to say that come the holidays i already am feeling sentimental, but when things like this happen, it makes me even more refelctive. things can change in an instant- sometimes you can be the one to change your own life and other times it changes without your control. for me, i had a little of both this past year and i have to say that i got through some of the hardest times , personally, and i thank myself every single day for making those changes because i can feel it radiating through me. its an awe insipring thing to feel positively sure that you made the right decision, especially when it came down to such difficult measures. but as i think back on the things i went through this year i can truly agree that wont kill you makes you stronger. its been a really weird one for me, but one that has shown me that life is what you make of it and everyday i am appreciative of the gifts i have been given, as well as the opporunities that i being presented. i am incredibly thankful to have the amazing family that i do- i have seen some things this year that make me realize how important family is, and i feel lucky to be blessed with a close relationship to everyone in my own and to know that no matter how hard you fall, family can always help you get back up again.

my new years resolution this year is simply going to be that i enjoy every day as it is- that i take advantage of ooportunities, take chances, and never forget to stop and just appreciate. because you never know when something will change your life, whether its by your hand or that of fate, and in the meantime all we can do is try to be humbled by every day that goes by that we are still here. i know its sounds super cheesy and pretty typical, but i have never been one for resolutoins because i always pick something unrealizitic and get bored with trying. but i feel like this is just going to be part of my life now, and that i wake up everyday and think that im living a dream of sorts- my dream- and i want to realize and be thankful for that every day. a year ago i would dream about one day what it i just picked up and left- moved to bali. started over. i never thought that within months things would start to move in that direction . i have incredible friends and an amazing family to thank for helping me through this year and i can only hope that next year brings as much fortune to as all:)

monkey bites....

some inquiring minds asked about the monkey bite reference. i think i forgot to mention it on here, because, well it took me a few days and a little asking around to fully comprehend what happened...

so my friend shanti shows up one night and he has like this massive cut thing on his face and im like whoa what happened, surfing accident? and he is like ahh no i got bit by the monkey. yeah he says 'the monkey' like it should be so obvious which one he is talking about!!

that particular night he was drunk out of his mind and having a conversation with him wa like trying to tame an elephant on speed- he was too busy crashing all over the place and bumbling around so i had to ask around for fo from his friends. turns out he was indeed bit in the face by monkey- the monkey who apparently is on a chain around the back side of bounty ( a huge nightclub shaped like a boat that we affectionately refer to as 'the grossest bar in bali' . bounty is full of 18 year olds without shirts on, the loudest and most obnoxious aussies ( i know, how do you classify any one of them as 'louder and more obnoxious' then the other?) plus there is an abundance of ho hos and its so stifllingly hot that its kinda hard to breathe. so yeah not suprised to find out that i had no idea that ther was a captvie monkey round the back and that for some reason my friend thought it wise to play with it...or something. that part of the story no ones seems to remember- as in why they were in the back and why they were involved in an altercation with a monkey.

miraculously his bite cleared up pretty quickly. hope he had a rabies shot. although that could explain that light foaming at the mouth i noticed the other night and just assumed he was spilling jungle juice out his mouth.....or perhaps could explain his temoporary insanity on tuesday where he called me 'chloe' for a good few hours. not only is that not my name, but its the name of this other gilr we knew, one he has a crush on....when i finally asked him why he was calling me that he looked really painfully confused before realizing his mistake. he was like i have no idea why im calling you that. yeah. there are some really fun people in bali:)

again with the complaints!

so once again i have been hearing the 'all i write about is partying' thing- just to clarify... i only write about things that i find funny or interesting, that other people also might find funny or interesting. now in the early days of this blog, i was immersing myself into an entirely different world, therefore everyday was filled with new and different things and i was eager to write about them. however, much like things become in every ones 'daily' life, my activiites are no longer so interesting, therefore i do not write about them!

if any of you had a blog, i doubt i would read about what cereal you had for breakfast and then how long the traffic held you up on your way to work! i mean i love you all, but its just not that interesting! so in attempt to forever hush the quiet complainers, i will give you an example of what i did today and why i would under regualar circumstances, choose not to write about it:

this morning i slept until 11. i did that becuase i took niquil last night as i was anticipating being a little bothered by this tickling cough in my throat- nothing seirous im sure, just the usual aftermath from four nights of partying. i really wanted to sleep deeply so i popped the pills and fell asleep in my bed watching re-runs of THE O.C. yeah the one that was on like five years ago. my CD drive is not working on my computer so i can only watch files that are on my media player, which happen to be about 15 episodes of the The O.C. ( season one) and mean girls.

after waking at eleven and packing up some stuff i headed out to grab some food on my way to do some chrsitams shopping. on the menu i saw 'cheese on toast' so i ordered that, but asked them to add tomato to it. all seemed fine. then he comes back; did i want tomato sauce on it? or tomato slices? slices i say.... then he comes back.... did i want cheese on it? uh yeah i say....then he comes back. did i want the cheese melted? omg yes i say. five minutes later i am presented with my two piecces of sliced bread , what can only be described as 'cheese dribbles' on it, and about ten slices of tomato on the side. pretty close i would say! i will always be confused however, as to how the cheese melts, but the bread doesnt toast. hmmmm

on my way to chrsitams shop- spent most of the day dodging horrific traffic and coughing up exhaust fumes but managed to get a lot done, loading bag after bag onto my bike, feeling like mom when she goes to the aiport ( also known as a pack mule) . after deciding i felt sufficiently ripped off for the day i decided to drop everything at home and go tot he beach. these are in opposite directions mind you, so back on my bike for like another 40 mins. i finally get to the beach and dont even get off my bike. the winds have changed directions here and so the beaches that we normally go to are now covered in trash and moss and seaweed and smell like dead fish. the one i went to today in particular smelled awful and was also covered in rocks ( not normally so?!) so i rode all the way back home to take a swim in the pool instead. on the way home i got lost in umalas ( on the bright side found a riding stable!) and had a minor breakdown on the phone ( while on the side of the road on my bike) while talking to shar regarding the imminent frustration that has been the sale of my car. its just absurd how quickly things can affect me- like here i really feel i have cooled off, learned to let things roll off my bike more and have had people point out how much more relaxed i am. but the second something from my 'old life' comes up and threatens the balance i just feel that old anxiety build up again and i get overwhelmed with frustration. so mini breakdown.

mini breakdwn really ruined the rest of my afternoon- by the time i got home the sun was gone and it was too chilly in the pool so in stead i decided to beat out the incoming rain and go to the internet cafe and wallow in my own crappy feelings! ive had an ice milo and i feel better:)

dont know what the evening will bring but my guess will be a cup of tea and a few more epsiodes of the OC before i pop some more niquil. see guys- wasnt that painful ? arent the stories about monkey bites to the face and pink eye infections much more exciting? i hope this has done its job....

oh yeah

and someone dropped a full beer bottle on my toe last night and im pretty sure its broken plus i have lost my voice. so i have blood shot pus filled eyes, a limp and a hoarse raspy voice. dead sexy i am.

Test: Do Eye Infections have a negative impact on your night?

result- no!!! so turns out i have pink eye. yeah that is what i get for grieving that nothing interesting was happening in my life. yeah two re puuffy eyes ! actually , my eye was read a coupl weeks ago and jon graciously and oh so helpfully pointed out that pink eye comes from getting feces in the eye and maybe i slept on a pillow that someone kept in between their legs and farted on and that is how i got pink eye. but turns out it was just red- but then two days ago....

melissa and i had a last minute rager on wednesday night and as a result we wanted to do nothing more then go to pleo for massages. we devised a new 'packet' - half hour foot massage and half hour head neck and shoulder massage. i wont suggest this in the ftuure, if you have the woman i did. it was the worst massage of my life, to be frank, and i literally found myself itching to just kick her off me . talk about not being relaxed, if anything it built the angst up to a furious level becuase i was having an inner battle with myself- like if it is bad, i should say something, but no, maybe it was better, maybe soon she would flip me over and change her movement, no i should say something, no i shouldnt. back and forth raising my anziety level to a new limit. so finally i just say ENOUGH and she doesnt stop!! it was like you know when someone touches you continuously in one place it starts to get really annoying and it doesnt hurt or anything but you just need it to stop LIKE NOW. that is how it was.

so about half way through the massage ( of which she never at any point even had me flip over) i started to notice my eye watering a lot and starting to feel swollen. i am not accustomed to laying face down for that long so i thought maybe it was just pressure building up in my head. but it started to get really uncomfortable and felt inceredibly swollen. when it was over FINALLY i sat up and my eye was throbbing and red and swollen out to rival my chest!! amongst the staffs concern i kept the freak out to a minimum, but mel and i went straight to the pharmacy. the way it works here is you walk in, tell them what is wrong with you and they go in the back and pull out something and tell you waht to do. no they are not doctors.... i know.

at least the instructions, etc were also in english! so we go home and put in the drops and let the swelling go down until about normal. actually wait, my timeline is off, that is the night we went out? crap i am confused...so yeah i guess we went out that night- eye and all! the next morning i woke up in a horrified state- aka my eye wouldnt open. so mel (bless her) leaves work to take me to the hospital. we went to the international one- was actualyl realyl quite nice- the doctor was very nice and of course diagnosed me with conjunctivits. pink eye. ( mel and i have decided that this term really freaks us out so we are only refering to is as 'eye infection of the undetermined kind' . so then she proceeds to tell me that im starting to get it in my other eye too. great. so 60 dollars and some medication later we are back on the road. for some crazy reason we decided that we were up for going to carrefour. insane.

back at the casa.....eyes have taken a turn for the worse. i am in so much pain, lying there immobile holding compresses up to my eyes, putting in drops, rubbing a gold ring around them ( a suggestion of lindas friend?!) i was a miserable sack of life yesterday. it was horrible. i started to cry at one point , overwhelmed by the uncomfortable-ness(such a baby) but mel snapped me into shape. thanks mel:) not before calling me quasimoto and trying to get me to dress up in the brown colored rain pancho and shoving a pillow in my shoulder to make a hump. yeah we would have done it but linda had freinds over and i dont know if they would have 'got it'

so i realize in the late afternoon that dirk is coming to town and i pretty much like bullied him into doing it and as yet, he had not actually confirmed his flight. but just as i think i am in the clear and can hole up in the house all night he calls!! soooo yeah i sucked it up, showered and pulled a hat low over my eyes, loaded up on visine and eye drops, donned my rain poncho and headed into kuta. he assured me we would just go for a few beers at a 'dark bar where no one will stare and those who do you will not care about' and he was right!! i didnt eat much yesterday and am thinking maybe the antibiotic drops made me accelearte from sober to drunk in like two beers. so yeah as you can well imagine last night turned into an all night rager yet again!! i just told people i was really high;) to be honest i dont even think most people noticed. and if you are wondering if guys still hit on you in kuta if you have two pink pussy eyes the answer is yes. seriously? i think i got hit on more last night then any other night out and i was scrubbed out and aporting blisters for eyes. incredible this place. people could care less! haha

and in true karmic form melissa awoke this morning with pink eye. aside from calling me quasi she actually really really helped me yesterday so i feel HORRIBLE!! sorry stanger:)

today we are looking better- not 100 percent- but better!

heat and mosquitos

shows how interesting my last few days were- i havent had anything even remotely interesting to write about! well not exactly true i suppose...just havent really 'felt' like writing anything i guess! trying to figure some stuff out- have to start making some decisions ( barf) about what im going to do when i get back here...cant live on what im making right now for much longer! especially with all the trips and stuff ...im really enjoying working on my own schedule, doing writing, not being part of office politics and drama and it has had a consuiderable effect on my stress and anxiety level...akak i am not nearly as worked up all the time! so im a little relucatant to take anything on that may bring back what i found were quite poisoning attitudes.

other then that- we have moved into our new house which is exciting i suppose! its really nice- a real house in fact- with great furniture and things all already set up. my room is a little scant- i dont really have what i need just yet- need some fyrniture and places to put 'things' but im reluctant to spend a load of money when im leaving again in like less then two weeks or something so im probably just going to continue living out of my suitcase as has ben the case for going on three months!! ahhh! i want to feel settled b ut its hard when everything is constantly changing and things are not really ever permanant. but i guess that is what this life is right now i will try to embrace that !

i do have to say- after a few really rough nights of sleep im really kinda over the supoer hot nights and the mosquitos feeding their entire families off my blood....but ill just think about the beach and the massages and feel better;)

i had to charge my camera but i will take pics of the place when i get home and put them up!

champagne and strangers- WAIT i know you!

so after years of creepy connections and random suprise meetings, i am not longer too suprised by the fact that this world is a small small place and you should really never write anyone out of your life completely, becase you never know when they may appear again in your life! here is last nights random meeting story:

josh nobles wrote mel and said he had some friends in bali and would we meet up with them and take them out so we agreed to meet up last night, with these two american girls. they were travelling in thailand where they met jason peck ( he was playing a softball tournament in bangkok) they are teachers from SD travelling in asia. so he invited them to singapore for thanksgiving and there they met josh ( or something like that) so they came here and we met up with them...nice girls, didnt stay out long bc they had a boat trip this am!
so anyways we met up with honey and her sister and skipped all over the place skygarden, mbargo ( yes jon at like midnight we went to mbargo and had jungle juice...) so at mbargo honey sees this guy she met the other night and goes over to say hi, while her sister tells us he is kinda yuck and points him out. yeah kinda yuck- he looks like a nicaraguan drug dealer straight from 1975- ron jeremy 'stache and feathery floppy hair and all...

so she comes back over and is like ugh that guy is a douche and we proceed to talk about him, while he comes in our direction and sits behind us ( wearing sun glasses - idiot!) so we are very obviously pointing and looking at him and he is just sitting there watching us with his friend so we decide to relocate ourselves to the other bar. at which point we decide we are also no longer interested in this topic and forget all about said johnny-depp-in-blow-wannabe-guy.

as we bar hop later on a pretty desperate 'we are going to have fun tonight' mission we end up at espresso bar ( dont ask me why, i will take the blame for the bounty run but i most certainly did not suggest this tiny little bar that is packed with 18 year old scrubbies and has a live band that has a lead singer who sings everything in the voice of a a crazy death metal head banger. its horrible) so there we are at this place and all of a sudden south-american-coke-dealer reeappears right in my face and goes I KNOW YOU!

yes imagine my surprise. but as i take a few moments and clear my head, shaking the smokey haze out of my face and trying to focus my eyes, which are currently swimming in jungle juice. after a few brief moments it starts to break the surface of my cloudy brain- i know him too! this farah-fawcett-feather-haired- man is someone i knew like four years ago in LA! so yeah- turns out that i know him ( he most certainly did NOT look like that then!) he is here for a couple weeks surfing and bumming around so we ended up hanging out with him (honey piercing him with dirty looks all night!) anyways that is my story of the small small world.

advice...

if you are ever in a bathing suit store in bali and they offer you a free gift with your purchase, do not pick the sunscreen. i learned this the hard way-- its just lotion in a bottle that says "sunscreen" yeah i feel the burn!!

frightening new discovery

so i have had a few different people comment on the 'face' on my tattoo but have never really taken them seriously ( slash i did not see what they were seeing so i was like, oh yeah, the face ...um haha?!?)

but last night i saw it. and now i cannot stop seeing it. its staring at me!!!!!

we were at dinner at rio- that place has made a killing off us!!!- (chef recommendation) anyways- so nick was like hey is that a new tattoo ( mind you i have been living with him for over a month now and definately already had it when i first met him) so mel is like ummm nick hello- no that is not new! anyways, his comment is what drew attention to the tattoo and soon he was like oh man that face is weird- its like a fu man chu man on your wrist!!! so i was like uh what are you talking about?? then i saw it.......

ITS THE FACE OF AN OLD CHINESE GUY WITH A FU MAN CHU BEARD. no joke. then mel saw it. then the two danish guys saw it. so its official- please look again at the center of the flower and witness the face that now permanantly lives on my arm. mel thinks that the guy did it intentionally..i fully intend to return to the scene of the crime and interrogate until answers are given!!

so my beautiful orchid tattoo is now names FU!

hmm i dont think i can wear my shorts here....

So in the interest of keeping my VA arrival a secret, i had to de-blog for a while so that i wouldnt give aything away! so i kept this undercover blog in my email so that i could post everything after the cat was outta the bag!! so remember this is all in the past- these things have happened already...


took the airbus 380 ( singapore airlines new airplane, seats 800 passengers, has those insane suites and everything) it was amazing!! seriously incredible- i think all other flights will now forwever feel like rickety old sea planes in comparison! when you take off you barely feel like you are moving- there is no weird sounds you can hardly tell you are flying! when there is turbulence it is much more subdued because the thing is like a beast! they also fixed some of the interior things that i had always been bothered by- i.e. the video controller is now stored in the seat back in front of you, not in the side, where you knee always pokes it and makes your movie fast forward or stop or something!!!

best comment of the evening-- scene- me and a semi-tipsy shar head to change money
shar : ( pulling out five hundred sing dollars) so do you think we should get euros or pounds?
me: what?
shar: well i mean we are going to europe so wouldnt we get euros?
me: (looking incredulous- she must be joking right?) um- did you really just say that?
shar: what?
me: um should we get British pounds or euros? mom we are going to Britain!!!
ahahahahaha
( i asked her if it was ok to blog about this and obviously she didnt mind- but she has threatened to 'get me back' i should really tell her that its not necessary, i say plenty of dumb things every day of my life......i will get myself back:)

once in london- at 7 am- we checked into the hyatt regency ( churchill as the locals call it) and then we went out on the town! it was FREEZING. when i got to singapore on thursday night i had literally tank tops and some leggings....i packed in a bit of a tizzy - jon and nick and i really did it right on our last night and i didnt get round to packing until 2 30, when i grabbed a handful of things and shoved them in a bag small enough to fit on jons motorbike and we headed to the airport at three!!! i really had no idea what i had with me......#

it wasnt pretty. so shar whips out this bag of stuff that she has hijacked from the 80's and is like you can wear this stuff!! haha im not even kidding- bill cosby called- he wants his sweaters back!!!! yeah so i decided my only options were a) freeze to death quite literally b) tease my hair and don the hammer-time long underwears and call it 'retro' or c) go shopping. obcviously i chose c....

i spent all day friday hunting for a winter coat in singapore ( ironic i know\) but in fact they have tons! all the international stores carry the seasonal clothes so there was a lot of stuff but it was pricey! but after a six hour shopping trip, i arrived home with a gorgeous coat from mango, some sweaters and long sleeve tops ( thank you TF) a scarf and two pairs of boots. set me back savings wise , but im telling you, it kept me from losing my dignity! haha

so into london we go....walking all around oxford street, window shopping, losing feeling in our faces!! i had a starbucks!!!!! first in almost 8 weeks..i know....sooo good:) ( for those who dont know the funny part is that i am back off the coffee- i am just addicted to chai lattes from there!) we went to the british museum which is an absolutely amaxzing building!! i have some pics of it and also of my favorite room- it was like a hogwarts library with these incredible old antique books just thousands of them!

after the museum we went to a pub and had lunch a some pints- i just have to say i cannot stop camparing how pricey it is too live here- sorry, i mean SPENDY! i had a cheese toastie for lunch ( essentially toast, with cheese on it) and it was 5 pounds..... that is about 10 us dollars. i could have eaten at the arungs for ten days straight for the same price. whoa.

then we went to see our show - SPAMALOT! to be honest- the word would be disapointing!! the theater was really cool- it was small and cozy but the show was just blah....i didnt realize that they would literally take the movie (monty python's holy grail) and replicate the best skits on stage. its just like uhh i have seen that fifty times- it was funny, but you have just killed it. the only funny bit was at the very end when they got this french guy up on the stage and were ad-libbing for him. guys dont quit your day jobs. clay aiken i apologize- i thought you were the reason that show got closed but now i see that it just sucked!!

so then back to the hotel to try and keep ourselves awake until at least 9pm!! it was a struggle but we managed to watch some rugby, some ice skating , the x factor and some of this scandulous dancing program that everyone is talking about! then i was out:)

london day two... SNOW!!

today we woke up early- grey sky was looming ahead....we ordered tea and coffee from room service and just as the door clicked shut, i looked out the window to see SNOW!! i leaped out of bed and screamed ' its snowing' at which point shar hurdled over to the window and we both started jumping up and down and screaming 'its snowing its snowing!!!!' hahaha

we got so excited that we bundled up over our pjs and went out for a walk just to be in it!!! it was so nice- it has been a really long time ( years) since i have seen snow fall - i have seen snow a few times but never been in it while its falling and it was really cool:)

so then it was off to kent! some family friends from singapore live in leigh (pronounced LIE) , a village in Kent and we were going to go to lunch at a pub with them. so we took a cab to the train station ( a whopping 15 pounds- jesus. how do people live here??) then took the train out about thirty minutes to hildenburough (or something:)

went to their incredible english country side home and then to an old pub actually called 'leiceister arms' i swear- isnt that the name of something in 'little britain' ? it just sounds made up! haha

yummy lunch and some shandys and pints! nothing like drinking a sunday afternoon away:)

due to some pretty serious jetlag and shar's coming down with something we had quite an early night in the cozy hotel- me on my second rate cot and shar and steve snoring it up in their lush bed! haha;)

this is the picadilly line servicing cockfosters....

this is the picadilly line servicing cockfosters....

today was walk-tastic! we tubed and walked and tubed and walked all over this place! we have been beofer so the obligatory sights ahve already been seen so this time we were kinda just wandering about!

we went to leceister square, walked down regent street and had some fancy pants tea at fortnam and moson some shee shee department store where they sell cookies for like 50 pounds!

had my new favorite food- welsh rarebit- aka cheese on a crumpet...mmmmm..

walked walked walked- i feel really bad because shar is sick and i think she is trying to be a trooper and act better then she is- if i were her i would want to be curled up in that cozy hotel bed not trekking around in the freezing cold! i had to put a stop to it when it started to rain!! by the time dad got back we were both curled up in the bed and itwas only 5 o clock! when it gets dark at 4 that is really all there is left to do!!

dads work colleague had suggested a restaurant called michael moore ( still have no straight answer on whether there is some relation....it was one of those converted houses, made into a small cozy restuarant where the chef is the main event. it was really delish though- had some goat cheese tartine and seared tuna- good stuff! also drank a lot of wine and im pretty sure i came back to hotel ( when the'rents passed out at 9 pm) and started tipsy-emailing people...hahaoops:_)

then today more walking about- went to porotobello road and walked around oxford street some more ( had to get shar back to the hotel for some rest) i am in shoe paradise here- well maybe its actually more like hell considereing i cannot afford to buy any of them without putting a kidney on lay away! seriously if i lived here i would have to live in a box and keep warm with all my shoes piled on top of me!! at first i thought the shopping her ein general was killer but turns out most of the stores are the same and so i remain infatuated with the shoe scene alone. i did buy one pair- shar said she would get them for me for early xmas- grey suede ankle booties with about a four inch heel .....delicious.

had lebonese food for early dinner and then went off to WICKED!!! my fave! however turns out there are two appolo theaters- one in the west end and one in victoria ( aka not the west end at all) so we tube hopped (rushing already) to the west end theater only to see josh hartnetts face leering above us in the advert for rrain man or something...so into a cab who literally flew us ( like that harry potter night bus thing) to victoria and we made it by the skin of our teeth!! it was great- we were like five rows back from the stage- you could see the spit from the actors mouths! hahah except the guy in front of me was a gian tbeast of a man and kept like rolling his colossal melon of a head around on his boulder sized shoulders and i couldnt see without sitting on both my feet and leaning forward! so we moved over into some empty seats and all was well:)

off to VA tomorrow for the suprise!!

one more blog worthy T-giving moment....

so we also like to play charades....we played on saturday night at my moms parents house ( known to us as grandma and grandpa snoopy) so the teams were ryan, cynthia, me devon and grandpa ( who counts as a half player really cus he doesnt really contribute!) against ally, mom, dad, mike ( my unlce) and angels ( his wife- now my aunt:)

normally we dance on the line of innapropriate- there are a few dirty ones but mostly tame , seeing as we are at the grandparents house! however this particular game of charades created one of the best real life 'meet the parents' moments ever....

not that cynthia ( ryans girlfriend) is new to our family in any way- she is more then used to morris humour and is a great sport about it. however, this game went from friendly to mortifying in a matter of two point two seconds- cynthia gets up, picks a paper ( we write out book titles, movies, people, etc and the other team picks from your pile) the look on her face alone can only be described as pure panic. she immediately flushed and stared at the paper for a long few seconds before bravely putting it down and beggining.... a few awkward moves led us to understand it was a movie with 6 words. we guessed a few of the small ones then she stood there- absoutely unsure of what to do next. so she gingerly crawled to her knees and layed down on the floor- for about two seconds before getting up and proclaiming that she just could not do it!! at this point devon managed to guess what it was: ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO. ( side note- mom and devon saw this movie together while she was visiting him in SD and lived to share with us a few preicelss gems of disgustingness that left all of us ( mainly dad) speechless!!

so cynthia is so embarassed she has to leave the room for a second to regain compsure, all the while my mom's team is LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY- her in particular. SHE wrote it!!! poor cynthia! i cannot imagine getting that one in front of my ( well, hypothetical) boyfriend's family! horrible shar. horrible!!!

some other thanksgiving 'traditions'....

my family has a habit of inventing our own games- we love to play cranium or balderdash or taboo but occasionally we feel bored with such common place activites and choose to embark on our own versions of family fun.... some of our memorable games of the past have been the historic 'disease game' , 'mosters in the pool' and ' fist in the mouth' a popular dinner time tryst!

this year we invented yet another winner- the scarf game. the scarf game began at grandma pats house, the night after thanksgiving, in her kitchen. allison was wearing her scarf wrapped around her neck and ryan commented that it would be easy for someone to walk up and strangle her with it. so ally said no- its easy to defend - you just shoot your hands up through the loop and push it over your head before the scarf tightens around your neck...make sense? ( probably not- im sensing this is one of those 'had to be theres' but it was too funny not too document- and seeing as i have pics i think it will be self-explanatory ...)

so they start challenging each other- basically the point being get the scarf off your head before the other person manages to choke you. yeah. haha so then of course we all want to try and next thing you know we are all peeing our pants with laughter as everyone tries to escape from the choke of their sibling or parent! haha we played it again at our other grandmas house and introduced it to our uncle and his wife. they have recently been married and she is from spain so they asked for pics for immigration to prove their wedding is 'legit' so i have some real winners for them to display some good old fashioned family bonding ( aka them trying to strangle each other!!) the best part was mom makes this choking noise to go along with it everytime without fail!!hahaha

I HAVE NOT AbANONED YOU MY PRECIOUS FOLLOWERS....

for all of you seriously concerned followers ( aka fans in my mind;) hahaha i have not abandoned this blog....i was just involved in a top secret mission which prevented me from updating with current info without flat out lying so i had to hold off. plus i was expeceted to survive off dial up which was not happeneing!!

so the secret mission was to suprise the fam in VA for thanksiving and so i was with shar and steve in london last week but couldnt post any of my blogs so as to keep the suprise a suprise! so i did write blogs but didnt post them and as soon as i upload my pics ( working on it as i type!) i will post those too!

mission success- the fam was suprised!! devon said he epulled a muscle in his jaw when it hit the floor as he saw me walk out of the terminal with shar and steve! then we drove to my grandparents house and i hid in the trunk while everyone said their hellos- then steve sent ry and al over to get ' more stuff from the trunk' and i jumped out ! ally started crying, which of course made me cry ...haha grandma on the other hand was too busy being confused because she thought it was devon jumping out of the trunk but he was standing right next to her!!

grandpa let it slip over the phone to my other grandma, who burst into tears and insisted that it was best she find out that way instead of at the thanksgivng party because she would have been mad that she was a 'blubbering idiot' in front of everyone!

it was so incredible to be able to be with so much family for the holiday - i am genuinely blessed with the best parents for bringing me along with them on the trip!! family is very important to me and as the years go by and everyone gets older, i appreciate more and more these opportunities.

there was one moment that i witnessed that has stood out in my mind and really touched me. my aunt has married a man named curtis this past year, and last year curtis's family joined ours for thanksgiving, where we all met his incredible sweet parents, who were celebreating their 60 th anniversary ( i believe.. if not excaclty sixty it was UP THERE!)

this year curtis's mom passed away and percules, his father came to thanksgiving again with us. it was sad to know that last year they had been sitting there together telling stories and sharing their lives with us and now he sat alone. when my mom's parent arrived ( her dad is turning 89 this year) i watched as he walked over to percules to shake his hand. i heard him say quitely to him ' i am so sorry to hear about your wife' their hands lingered in a shake for a brief moment and percules said 'thank you. i miss her very much' then my grandfather said ' i have been married to this one ( gesturing at my grandmother) since 1948 and i just cannot imagine... ' and he trailed off. their words ended there but the understanding and shared compassion that i saw in that brief interlude was really touching. :)

ok on to picture uploading for london blogs!!