T minus 18 insane days

So the wedding fast approaches!

I won't bore you with the crap I haven't finished...

but I will bore you with the things I have fantasized about in the past day in order to avoid dwelling on unfinished wedding things (or my chest cold, or my sudden gastro-intestinal distress...tragic, but well timed, because no one wants to be worried about (as my mom calls it) "running to the bathroom" in a wedding dress!)

Fantasies:

1. going to some random, rural locale in the Rockies with Jam where it's quiet and we don't know anyone. We find a quiet spot, near a creek, dip our toes in the water and have a picnic. Thanks a billion "Enjoying the Small Things" for putting that fantasy in my head!

2. Spending some time on a farm

3. Crocheting a blanket while snowed in, not moving from the couch except to pee and eat until it's finished

4. Making an apple pie (not an unreasonable fantasy, but no time)

5. Hiking/camping - ESCAPING! This actually might be possible, if I can convince the Jamonster. The subaru has a fixed muffler and I know this campsite in Western Mass....hmmm.

But yeah. I'm looking for some escapism I guess, but there is no time to be fantasizing! There is work to be done! I have menus to print! Escort cards to design! I must focus.....

....now the Grand Tetons must be lovely in the fall........

argh!

If one more flipping person tells me how our wedding is fast approaching and that I should "breathe and enjoy the day"...
I might have to strangle them! OMG!!!!

Foster Parrots

Most of you four or five readers (tee hee) know that I used to volunteer EVERY Saturday at a local parrot shelter. I know I mentioned that they moved to a wonderful facility in Rhode Island so they can set up a better "habitat" for the birds and care for even more abandoned/abused exotic animals. This means I only visit the sanctuary about once a year...which is sad, though pet-sitting for the directors helps me get my animal fix!

Apparently a project is in the works for FP and the PR person needed photos of birds that are "striking." He asked me to send him some thing and I thought "ugh, all I have is CRAP" but to be nice, I sent him what I thought were my "best," including this shot of Jane Goodall from the Grand Opening of the sanctuary:

The other photos were exclusively birds...and while looking at them I realized that 1. I am a halfway decent self-taught photographer 2. I love birds because they exude so much personality. People hate on birds - you hear it all the time. They cringe and say "why would I have a bird when I can have a dog?" or "birds freak me out" - whatever, birds are pretty damn awesome and SMART. Not that I don't totally love dogs, want a dog, and think most dogs are smart, it's just that science has proven that large long-lived birds are smart in terms of animal smartness - think monkey and dolphin smart, think toddler-smart. The birds at FP do everything from let themselves out of cages that I probably couldn't let myself out of, talk and say things in context (ie one of the "bad birdies" calling a volunteer a "f*cking c*nt" in frustration....we were shocked and horrified....then laughed) to learning how to manipulate people into getting what they want. Seriously! These creatures have big big personalities....I wish more people loved them as much as I and all the FP folk do:

My Sister's Tumblr

My sister has a rockin' tumblr page that makes me JEALOUS. I want a tumblr page too! I already blog too much at work though. Eek.

Anywho, she has a great Indiana Jones tumblr up.

It's funny because docking the boat at our grandparent's (Bear Island, Lake Winnipesaukee, sometimes big waves) can be the most dramatica thing ever when there are whitecaps and a stiff north wind. This weekend I took a flying leap out of the boat and watched it drift a little further and further away from the dock. Now I have a hard time remembering that it's a boat, and unlike a car, you have a ton of leeway for maneuvering and backing up and trying a re-approach is not really a big deal - it's not a car that you risk running off the road. Anyways, in my panic, I meet my dad's eyes and say "THROW ME THE ROPE!!!!!!" which he threw, two-handed at me, like a poisonous snake. Looking back, it must've been the most insane boat docking of all time. Luckily my sister has the ability to see the hilarity in just about any situation. She gets out of the boat and says "Gimme the whip! Throw me the idol!!!!" Of course I follow up with "Adios, Dr. Jones....mwhahahahahahahhahha"

We could be a traveling comedy show, I swear.

Still Moving

I can't wait to post pics of our apartment here.

But alas, it's still being unpacked piece by piece.

It's coming together though - the craft pantry? OMG, it's like a dream come true. I have what is described as a "super-legit" craft space. EEEK!

Other things - like where to unpack and put our clothes - well they're coming along at a snail's pace, LOL. My clothes are strewn about in two differe

nt rooms in multiple different bags and suitcases. DISORDER.

Lucky for us, we bought a bedroom set yesterday. Jam had scoped it out over the weekend and liked it, and I went in for the second view. After two nights of sleeping on an air mattress (yes I know that is nothing - but I am getting old and I'm a lightweight when it comes to sleep comfort and I have sciatica people!) I was ready to buy just about anything, but luckily we found something we both really liked, a queen-sized bed with d

rawer storage. We bought two dressers and a mirror as well (llllurve) and I'm looking forward to getting all our stuff put away. While we do actually have an embarrassing amount of clothes, we don't have a TON of storage. Ironic because we have a pantry and about a million cabinets in the kitchen - not so in the bedrooms. There's a bootleg closet someone built, but the built-in closet that came with the bedroom is this odd 2'x2'x2' triangl

e....which really threw them off of the room-planning scheme at the furniture store. Oh well, all is good now, we'll have tons of storage. Jam is worried a

bout TV placement, but I have assured him that we c

an put it on top of his dresser and we'll be fine.

Why his dresser?

Well. The hummingbird tray needs a home after all :)

I was so pleased to see it unwrapped and out of storage. I felt like Royal Tenenbaum did when he finally tracked down his beloved javelina: "There you are!"

Heh heh.

But I Need You to Know

That for every sad or heartbreaking memory I have of Africa, there are about a bizillion happy, beautiful, humorous, awe-inspiring memories....memories of "the first elephant," memories of happy little kids playing games with us at the school, field research, getting drunk in back of beyond little towns and stumbling home or to the cars, finding the most beautiful place on earth and having the "perfect day, standing over the "cradle of civilization," our safari vehicles breaking down, endless references to "The Lion King" and "Jurassic Park," inside jokes like "Science Camp," and of course, the wonderful wonderful staff that was like a second family to all of us:

Otieno

Maraka

Mboya

Featured last is Salaash. He is one of the most special people I know. He loves nature and all animals. He loves animals so much that he fought off a leopard that was taking down his livestock, one animal at a time. Yeah, I said leopard. Did I mention that he did this with a stick and his bare hands? Believe it. He has the scars and the detailed story to prove it. He took us to his homestead once to meet his family and to show us his bird-feeding station. He took us hiking in the Ngong Hills and snuck us into Kitengela so we could buy bootleg CD's (E-Sir's album. He had just died in a traffic accident, his talented life cut tragically short, so his albums were hot stuff). He loved birds and sometimes reminded me of one - especially when he was spinning around in the pool at Ngulia Lodge singing to himself. He was so proud that by the time I got back to Kenya in '06, he had learned how to swim. Salaash was in charge of getting us "home" in one piece when we had food poisoning, an agonizing 5 or 6 hour drive. He patiently pulled over whenever we had to hurl, while pointing out random herds of bovines. I remember my friend Rachel throwing up on the side of the road while Salaash yelled "Oryx!! ORYX!" When I was sick, Salaash drove, Kioko brought me juice, and Otieno brought me tea. They were my second family.

The funny thing is, when I went back in '06, they were all stunned I remembered them. Our lives were so intimately intertwined when we lived at the camps. The staff were our link to the outside world and we needed them for just about everything, from killing poisonous snakes in the middle of the night to hospital runs when we got sick or hurt to translating to getting us goods from Nairobi when we ran out of something. How could we ever forget them? I guess people must though...I remember Damaris, the secretary at one of the camps, kissed me when I said her name. "You remember me?!" she asked, incredulous. "You let me use the internet to email home so my friend could register me for college classes!" I exclaimed. I do not forget the smallest of small things....which in turn means that even the smallest victories or joys or happinesses or celebrations or humorous moments will never, ever, be overshadowed by the struggle, the sadness, or strife.

Oh, did I mention that I can't wait to go back??! Someday.

Africa Post

Today I remembered something.

I was in a hospital in Oloitokitok, in the back of beyond, in a pediatric unit.

It was filled with burned little kids. There were other kids with other problems too, but most of them were burned. The room was small. It was unsanitary, highly unsanitary for kids with severe burns. It smelled. There were flies. Some of the beds did not have sheets. I don't want anyone to think I'm sitting here saying that the doctors and nurses did not care, that they were not making the best of what supplies and resources they had. They cared very much about their patients. There were just not enough supplies, not enough staff - just not enough.

I read this boy a Berenstain Bear's book, one of the few children's books we kept at our field camp.

The only swahili words I could say to make him understand were "mama, baba, toto, toto" I would point to Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Brother Bear and Sister Bear and he would whisper the swahili words as I pointed.

This day was more than seven years ago, and today it just dawned on me that I have not the slightest notion of what happened to that burned boy. No clue. Did he live? Die? Die of burns? Die of infection? Does he have bad scars? Was he disabled because of his injuries? No idea.

Jam makes fun of me because he says if I ever win one of those multi-million dollar lotteries I'd be broke from giving all the money away. He's almost right - I'd make sure we'd have enough to live on. But I would go back to Oloitokitok and build a hospital - a decent, clean, sustainable hospital. With a burn unit, with a TB ward that wasn't corrugated plastic huts in the back yard. I think that's what I'd do first.

From Penn Museum's photostream.

We signed a lease!

Jam and I are moving to an apartment!

We signed the lease last week!

This is very exciting, but also very hectic.

I'll have some before/after pics of the interior when my painting crew (grandpa, dad, neighbor) finish. I'll probably be a bit absent from this blog and the wedding blog...but hopefully not too absent!

For now, here's the outside.

I'm spending my post-work hours today cleaning. Fun times!

OUTLANDER

Um. How did I manage to not read any of these books until now?

OMG.

I'm in a bookclub (think I've mentioned it before) where we alternate between fairly heady works of award-nominated fiction and sometimes dry

non-fiction. I love it. I love that the members can be very snobby about books, and find i

t funny when they rank on authors or series or even magazines and movies, because the generation gap is such that usually they're mocking things I love or at least enjoyed (and I have very low standards when it comes to books and movies. I'll read/watch nearly anything). I love my book club because they force me to read things that I might pass over at the library as too boring or too academic, and I've read a LOT of book

s that have been a challenge. But sometimes I need to escape. That's when I'll pick up stuff like

Twilight or some random brit fiction, a la Shopaholic series. I need the slightly trashy and highly entertaining!

I mentioned this to a woman in my bookclub. Two mon

ths ago she recommended the Sookie Stackhouse series. I needed a vampire break, so I wrote down the Charlaine Harris books to save for later and entertained myself with library books - you know, things I see at Barnes and Noble, write down in my iPod and borrow from the library because I am too cheap to buy books most of the time. This month she came in singing the praises of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. She's like "oh there a bit bodice-ripper-y

, but decent historical fiction....in Jacobite Scotland....

and there's time travel."

Um WHAT?!!!

I mean I'd heard of the book title and author but knew nothing about the series. How is this possible when:

1. I (mostly) love time travel books. TOTALLY addicted. Since Carolyn B. Cooney's Time Traveler's Quartet (and no, I did not know there wa

s a fourth book, and yes, I am totes going to buy them all and reread, young adult fiction categorization be damned!

2. Scotland! Those are my people! On both sides! We're septs of Clan Bruce and Clan Gordon! And probably others! GOSH.

Gordon

Bruce

I feel like I should be giving some sort of primal Clan shout right now....

3. Summer is the season for delicious books! I need delicious Scotsmen in my life (fictional Scotsmen, that is LOL)

So I planned to check Outlander out of the library. Buuut it is ALWAYS checked out in every library that owns the book. I felt the need to read it was too urgent to put myself at the mercy of the holds list. So I bought the Kindle edition for my ipod touch and began reading it on the train on Friday morning. It took me about a commute's worth of time to become completely addicted, so I ordered Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber on half.com for cheeeeap, because, as much as technology rocks and the kindle app is awesome, this was the kind of book I wanted to physically hold in my hands....

.....but then I couldn't wait. I couldn't stop reading. I thought I could get through the weekend on the Kindle app, then pick up another book and wait until the Outlander books arrived (it doesn't matter, I'll just reread them eventually anyways!) I finished Outlander yesterday at platelet donation and began Dragonfly in Amber on my way home. And let me tell you, it has me ANXIOUS. I want to sneak it at work, but I have too much to do :( Since there are five more books, I'm thinking that everything works out in a certain way, but the uncertainty is killing me! I see why people who are just starting the series now say they start with the first book and have to continue right through to the seventh. Books 1-5 are currently in the mail on their way to me :) because I can't keep reading these on kindle. And what better books to keep me entertained during our weekend getaway in New Hampshire, which is a bit rugged highlands-y...

The point of my post? hmm don't really have one except to say that I'm totally grateful to my book club friend for emailing me about the series, and that I'm loooving it. If you're looking for some adventure, 18th century medicine, Scottish history, romance, sexy time - READ IT! And if you're so inclined, imagine that sexy doctor from Grey's Anatomy as Jamie (Dr.Owen Hunt/Kevin McKidd) Oh HELLS yes.

Alright. Off to do real work.

Seriously though. Read Outlander.

Bridal Shower!

Posted from the wedding blog....cause I just had to share!

I knew my wonderful mom and MOH-sister and bridesmaids would be throwing a shower, but I didn't know when or where (well not really where...I had my suspicions). They surprised the heck out of me a week ago with a huge gathering of ladies in the back yard. They very craftily planned the shower on the same weekend as my 10-year high school reunion. This way, I'd be out of the house on Saturday and would be spending the night in Boston, the perfect setup for a sneak attack!

I knew that my mom and sister were putting a lot of work into planning, but I had NO idea how much they had done. They made a lot of the food and did all of the decorating!

My sister made a bunch of these pinwheels and had them all over the yard. She printed her own "Allison and Jamaal" paper - how amazing is that?!

I was so sad that these were only used for a day...until I realized that she craftily made them to match our wedding colors! I'll be dropping these in Middletown before the wedding so they can find a home at the Barns for our reception!

Every little detail was taken care of - the shower itself was a sort of brunch/tea. Favors were little teacups with a tea bag in them. The butterflies and flowers found on the teacups were an overall theme that carried over to everything from the signs used for the food to the cake.

Each teacup had a little butterfly- and flower-adorned 'Enjoy' card - my sister's handiwork:

She bought a couple Martha Stewart butterfly punches! Jealous!

Paper flower bouquets on the table for decoration

Amazing paper banner that said "Allison's Bridal Shower" The picture does it no justice at all, this thing was beautiful and was made out of coordinating pieces of scrapbook paper. I love it...and it's still hanging up there! Amy is going to help me make something similar for our chairs at the reception :)

Before I arrived there was a lot of prepwork. The tables were set and the fabulous hydrangea/rose centerpieces were put out.

My friend EE put together my "bridal chair"

My dad cleaned the pool. Everything must be perfect!!

The gift table piled up quickly (because I am a lucky girl!)

Guests gathered in the front yard right before I arrived (I wondered who Jamaal was texting)

Woohooo, surrrrprriiiise!!!

After a round of hugs, we moved into the backyard so I could marvel at the splendor:

There was even better stuff on the porch....FOOD:

Look at that spread! My mother had made almost 100 muffins in about 8 different flavors (yummmmm). There were sandwiches and quiches, seafood-macaroni salad and bean salad. Oh there were appetizers too (cheese, pepperoni, edible arrangement, veggies and dip), but I barely had the chance to eat them! Actually, I didn't get a chance to try the quiche at the shower, because a guest took the last piece, but that's another story ;) and my mother had the sense to put two in reserve!!

After eating (and sweating, it was about 100 degrees!) it was present opening time. I won't bore you with a million shots of me opening gifts, and I won't show you the shot of me with backsweat, but here are a few pics (I apologize for the cleavage, I had NO idea my dress was so boobylicious)

Some every day silverware - we can eat! WahoooO!

My sister designed and made me this cross stitch picture. It's a quote from "Across the Universe" by the Beatles, and it's beautiful. I wanted it on our aisle runner, but aisle runners are banned in our church. This is even better, now I can hang this in our apartment and see it whenever I want. The quote is: "Limitless undying love which shines upon me like a million suns, it calls me on and on across the universe."

Love.It.

Evelyn vase - beautiful

It's not a shower without lingerie! This was, thankfully, very tasteful!

I started to flag towards the end. People were insanely generous. I'm not going to show you all the pictures, or tell you everything we were given, but here's a basic sampling:

most of our "everyday dishes," baking supplies, tea kettle (the coveted one!), keurig, vases, 5 place settings of china, crate and barrel glassware, a silver chest, waterford flutes and goblets, the coveted charleston centerpiece bowl, a few pans, and....

last but not least, from all the bridesmaids:

A RED KITCHENAID MIXER!!! Yes!! I have already had one request for baked goods (future father in law, oatmeal raisin cookies) so I know what I'll be making first once we get our kitchen set up!

Of course I had to take a shot with the bridesmaids:

sans future sister-in-law, who had e. coli poisoning (how awful is that?!) I think this is a great bunch of good-looking ladies, and I can't wait til we're all dressed up and fancy :)

So that's just snippets from a totally amazing shower. I can't even tell you how perfect the day was - it went by like a flash though, it was over in what seemed like a blink of an eye - probably a good preview for what the wedding day will be like!

Sunday

So SO MUCH to share...first I have to finish this Washington recap, or else it'll never get done!

Sunday....our last day in DC, and possibly the hottest.

After an amazing dinner Saturday night at Ceiba (highly recommended) I decided to try and work off the 5,873 calories I consumed by spending a day at the zoo. I LOVE the National Zoo, and while I think it is eclipsed in size and animal variety by the fabulous Bronx Zoo, I try to never miss a chance to hit up the DC zoo. Love the setup, love the bird house (of course) and the zoo can be seen, if one sets a grueling pace, in a day. Off I went!

After lingering at Starbucks for a half hour (not realizing I could walk into the zoo before official "opening" duh) I began the trek to the animals. I went to "China" first, in hopes I'd catch a glimpse of the newborn Red Panda. Yeah right. That thing was not coming out in the heat. Actually, most of the animals looked like this Clouded Leopard:

Luckily I'm not one of those people who goes to the zoo looking for a performance from the animals...and given that the zoo was approximately the same temperature as the surface of the sun, I empathized with the sleeping animals. If I wore a fur coat 24/7, I would've been sleeping too. Of course I wanted to kick all the tourists who kept saying "Why are all the animals sleeping??" BECAUSE it's a MILLION BILLION DEGREES MORON!

Eh. But I digress.

So baby Red Panda (do we capitalize animal names like that? I don't know...) was nowhere to be found, but that's ok, there were plenty of other things to see. I was at the zoo right at opening, so it was fairly empty and glorious.

I decided to hit up the Bird House in hopes it would be deserted. It was....except for one family. The mom wandered around the bird house yelling "AM-burr, AM-burr, AM-burr, where you at? AM-burr? AM-BURR!!" I was losing my f*cking mind. She pauses in front of a hornbill, calling to its young in a nest:

"That bird's annoying!" she declares. "He's calling to his young" the zoo staffer said. Much like you, I thought. "Wee-eelll, it's annoyin'!" she insists. "YOU'RE ANNOYING!!!!" I say. I'd been at the zoo for no more than 15 minutes and my patience was gone and filter completely off. She continued calling for her spawn. I watched the hornbill 'til they had cleared the hell out of there. Ugh.

After that, I saw many other awesome birds:

Parrot

Burrowing Owl

Pygmy Falcon

Victoria Crowned Pigeon (and yes, the red eye freaked me out)

And then moved outside to see more:

Flamingo - they were nesting and hilarious

Some sort of threesome....I dunno lol

Baby Rhea - a-dor-a-ble I cannot even describe the level of cuteness

There were beautiful flowers outside the Bird House:

Lotus

Then I checked out the rest of the zoo, small mammals, big cats, etc.

Loungin' Tamarin

Very charismatic meerkat

I trudged to Amazonia to see if it was actually cooler inside the rain forest.


it was.


This bird kept an eye on me!


Amazing flower

By the time I made it back from Amazonia, I was feeling a little bit like this:


So I trudged back to the Metro to hit up the FINAL museum of the trip, new museum #6, The National Geographic Society Museum, blessedly close to our hotel.

There's a cool shark out front:


and a number of fabulous things inside. First, I took a look at an exhibit on DaVinci (no photos at either exhibit, so sorry about the lack of photos here!). On display were his many inventions, rebuilt based on sketches. These were fascinating, though I was so tired that I skimmed through. There was also a detailed analysis of the Mona Lisa on display. You should definitely check it out on their website.

I spent a LOT of time in the second exhibit, Design for the Other 90%, especially since it touched on a subject that is of great personal interest to me, bringing appropriate technology to the developing world so people (especially women and children) have access to everything from as basic as clean, safe water to the internet. I believe *pause to step on my soapbox* that appropriate technology (check this out if you're going "technology? appropriate? wha?) is the absolute essential key to improving the lives of women everywhere. Its development and distribution in so-called "third world nations" is the key to shifting focus from sheer survival to education, sustainable housing, business and agriculture, and commerce. *steps down*
Obviously I loved every second of this display since I'm ranting here, and it was soooo reassuring to see that individuals and companies are heavily invested in their inventions. Check out the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's website (they're the group that arranged the exhibit) for more information and a look at everything that was featured in the exhibit.

So I did it. SIX museums in three days. I felt like a rockstar. I learned SOOO much. I saw such beauty. I was also very very confused at times (that melting crystal exhibit? really Renwick Gallery, really?!) but loved the exposure to fine art once again. My feet, however, were not feeling so rockin' I had mad blisters, though I have to say, my shoes were not exactly to blame, more like the *sweat* making me feet slide all around....normally I would not defend a shoe when I got blisters, but I invested in these privos at zappos.com, and let me tell you, worth every penny and then some. I was in these babies 12, sometimes 14 hours a day, and did not feel anything until day three, and like I said, it's only because I was so effing sweaty. I am totes buying another pair of these, they've all I've been wearing...but I digress....DC - DC was fantastic fun, and a great kickoff to my 101 things list. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go. The only drawback was the fact that Jam didn't have the chance to enjoy any of the sights. I'm psyched we're planning to go back. Next time around? Newseum, Spy Museum, and both the East and West wings of the National Gallery. Oh goody goody goody!!!