Sunday, June 25

A good cup of coffee

Here I sit at grandma and grandpa's,
looking them in the eyes and
feeling the importance of being with family.
We drink coffee with milk and sugar,
listening to stories that are both old and new
I found out facts I never knew,
like about the time my grandparents sang at the Ryman Theatre,
or how my other grandpa wanted to build an orphanage in India.
I sit through an akward silence here and there,
nodding my head, saying "yep"
not knowing how to fill the gaps in conversation
my suitcase is filled with the smell of a spilled hair product
if I sit here just right and manage not to move more than an inch or two
my laptop picks up a very low signal
It's good to be home, to be the grandchild..the niece
I feel grown up now...more so than last year or the year before
is it the rental car in the driveway?
the experiences that have brought me back to here?
adulthood has crept in
and yet the child in me still puts her feet up while sitting at the kitchen table,
still hugs and kisses everyone who walks in and out of the door,
still listens more than she speaks,
All I want is to embrace these moments...carry them with me
How fragile, how rare and precious
to be with people you love.

Tuesday, June 20

Tulsa by Tuesday

and by Saturday..NY. This summer is FLYing by. :) Hope to see lots of you in my travels. More pictures to come I am sure.

Sunday, June 18

This week in pictures...

I thought the wording on this sign was interesting...
Dinner on the Regal Empress.... Did we get a good table or what? :)Each night when we came back to our room, everything had been straightened up and our beds had been turned down.
Pre-snorkeling...you can't see it but the water was so blue and clear.
A nighttime view of Universal Studios, Orlando.

Waiting for the SuperMan experience.

Need we say more??

In a nutshell...

This week, I...
vegged with Lys and watched cheesy made-for-tv movies.
snorkeled in the Bahamas. (saw a fish with buck-teeth..no kidding..I swallowed a bunch a salt water laughing with Lys about it...lol.)
met people from Romania, Poland, Russia, Philippines, Bahamas, Ukraine...and the list goes on but I can't remember them all.
braved some new roller coasters.
made some new friends from Wisconsin and Ohio.
got to know my sister...we haven't spent quality time together in so long.
went on two time-share tours...said "no" one too many times.
experienced withdrawals from using the information highway.
watched the stars and moon from the deck of a ship with no land in sight.
sang Karaoke for the first time ever.
paid $3 to listen to 3 little guys from the Bahamas sing us a song on the street...who can say no to a song? (This is them in the picture.)
experienced what it might be like to be chased by the paparazzi.
remembered why sunscreen was so important.
found a Starbucks that stays open until 2am.

Thursday, June 8

LA Gone Wild

Hiking in Calabasas...felt like we were on a movie set or something. Aside from the smog over the mountains, can you believe this is LA?
Look very closely...
Love the tree.
Bees. Everywhere.
More wildlife. Posted by Picasa