a new tradition...

Last night the philosopher and I got back from a quick little trip to Vancouver with L's mom, Christy. It was a lot of fun. We picnicked by a rose garden, ate interesting food and spent hours walking through Stanley Park admiring the gardens, interacting with the raccoons, looking at the trees, and talking.

The raccoons were very, very unnaturally social and absolutely adorable. They were so used to people feeding them peanuts and such that they would walk right up to you with their big eyes asking for food.

We also spent over four hours at the Vancouver aquarium looking at fish and watching the dolphins play. Oh, how I love dolphins! It was the first time, that any of us could think of, that we've been to an aquarium that wasn't solely focused on entertainment. There was a big social push for sustainability and alternatives with our fishing practices. It used to be that the aquariums went and caught their whales, dolphins, otters, sea lions, etc... But surprisingly, and sadly, most of their whales, dolphins, and sea lions were rescued.

...And then we walked and talked a little more.


{all photos by my philosopher or myself}

somewhere along the way I turned into a hippie

With all our attempts at planning for grad school, a move to {somewhere}, and a wedding one thing has become very apparent: this next year is going to be BIG. SO, I would like our honeymoon to totally once-in-a-lifetime-crazy-spankles-super-cool! Of course all honeymoons are *fingers-crossed* "once-in-a-lifetime"-type trips and, of course, all honeymoons are *fingers-crossed* special. BUT, since this next summer is going to be such an unusual and important marker in our lives, I would like for the philosopher and I to make the absolute most of a summer that we'll remember forever. I want the stories we tell our grandkids to be flat out unbelievable (in a good way, bien sûr)!

In thinking about amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, incredibly fun trip possibilities I stumbled across a great idea: a road-trip across Europe or the United States in an old VW van. Memorable? Surely! Unusual? Yes! Fun? Well... I think so. I ran the idea past the philosopher and it didn't even garner a verbal response. I wish I had a picture to share of the look on his face. I guess this idea will rest in the reject bin. To give him credit, I probably would get tired of riding around in a clunker. What with my unrelenting car-sickness and my desire for our honeymoon to not be associated with the word «gritty». Maybe we could compromise on one of these or these.

Although if we can't ride across the country in a VW van, I'd at least like to head to New York dance in front of this one:

moving up

My brother Corbin and his girlfriend Julie have spent the last couple of days driving from the heart of Texas to their new home in Colorado. Isn't their new house cute?! Now comes the fun part: unpacking loads of boxes and stocking an empty fridge! Too bad they'll have to deal with things like letters of congratulations and birthday presents in the mail as well... hint, hint! Have fun y'all.