Location Set for Thanksgiving 2013: 32nd and Curtis!

As I unload the dishes into their disorganized places in our tiny apartment kitchen, I am comforted by thoughts of how much fun it will be to unload the dishwasher in our new home!!

We close on February 28th and this time we will get to furnish, decorate and landscape our home instead of drywalling, painting, reflooring, re-plumbing and re-wiring.  Sounds like a pretty natural progression to me!

But don't worry, we will still be living in the "ghetto".... I mean, it just wouldn't be Cambria and Anson's home, otherwise ;)

(By the way, if you want to pursue your wife who wants a second dog to move to said "ghetto," a good tactic is to say "if we buy this house we can get a second dog for security."  Just in case you were wondering.)

And I bet you can't guess how we celebrated...... with pho, of course!

Fine, pull our legs...

I wish I could blame this on the super cold weather but, alas, apparently the real Bentley has quite the quirky parents as well.

What Bentley does when we're at work

Bentley picked up a new hobby since she is home alone all day again: fashion. http://i.imgur.com/FeubF.jpg

(And no, that is not really our Bentley. Apparently she has an exact twin with rather quirky parents out there somewhere.)

Friday things [that make me happy]

1. Brisk Colorado winter air (although my cracked hands beg to differ)
2. Wearing (and smelling) my beautiful new boots from my wonderful husband
3. The fact that instead of commuting an hour to work this morning, I spent 20 extra minutes sleeping, 15 extra getting ready and eating breakfast at home, 20 walking my beloved dog and 5 walking to work.
4. Coffee (makes me happy everyday)
5. Having met more new people at my new job in the first week than I met in 3 years at my last job.
6. Having power over and responsibility for final work products, even when that final product is a presentation for the Public Health Improvement Steering Committee during my second week on the job.

Happy Friday, everyone!

51 days in

Not including planes, trains, buses or layovers, we have stayed in 20 hotels visiting 18 destinations in 4 different countries over the past 51 days. But today we stayed put relaxing on and snorkeling off of a single beach. And it made me realize how lucky we are that islands like this have beaches at all. Because they give us a stretch of land that is habitable (and also universally tranquil and relaxing) sandwiched between two places that humans are really only suited to visit: the rainforest and the ocean.

Our new friends on Pulau Tioman, Malaysia

And if you're worried about there not being any monkeys here, don't be. They're on our roof!

Melaka, Malaysia

I am going to miss having coffee pool-side one week, in the rainforest the next, curbside in Little India of an exotic city I never thought I'd go to the next, and riverside the next.

I am going to miss happening upon exotic animals like monkeys and monitor lizards on a regular basis.

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I am going to miss having a zillion kinds of freshly squeezed juice and shaved ice. 

Cendol is very popular is Malaysia.  The classic version is shaved ice with plum sugar, coconut milk and green worm-looking jelly things.  We were laughing because I got the classic version and Anson got a different one with ice cream on top and mine looked so much sadder than his.

I am going to miss my religion and history lessons taught by Anson.

I am going to miss markets.

And night markets.

I am going to miss taking neat pictures.  

And funny pictures.

Melaka was established where it is because around 1400 its founder saw his dog corner a mule deer, who in turn kicked the dog into the river.  He liked this - the weak overcoming the powerful - so started his empire here.  He was sitting under a Melaka tree at the time. 

I am going to miss constantly trying new and delicious foods.

I am going to miss eating a new version of chicken rice nearly every-other day.

I am going to miss experiences like stumbling upon the best Dim Sum we've ever had when we thought we were just going for steamed dumplings and coffee.

And I am going to miss the people selling us all this food being so thrilled to share it with us and then that we like it as much as we do.

I am going to miss Chinese parades right outside our guesthouse.

And I am going to miss guesthouse owners who are so nice they knock on your door to make sure you're not missing said parade.  (We were of course already outside watching it!)

I am going to miss personal bias realizations, like when you think the people parading with buckets are going to be seeking donations, when in fact they are handing out treats!  Of which, by the way, I happened to receive a mango one and a tamarind one (my two favorite flavors) - certainly lucky, if you ask me!

I am going to miss funnily-worded signs.

I am going to miss experiences like finding something to buy in this man's shop for the sole reason that he and his wife were literally the only salespeople I have been unable to say 'no' to this entire trip.

I am going to miss things like thinking I was getting a steal-of-a-deal when I bought a pair of earrings for 3.8 Ringget and then later the same day buying 7 pairs for 5.

I am going to miss not knowing what day of the week it is and the fact that it really doesn't matter.

I am going to miss having to remind myself that typically three day weekends are sooo nice and we have had 20 three day weekends in a row so far.

I am going to miss not doing dishes.

I am going to miss having an abundance of fresh mango, mango-flavored and mango-ingredient-ful foods around every corner.

I am going to miss things like deciding to spend 5 nights on a remote island because we ended up having 'too much' time in Malaysia.

And I am going to miss Anson being exceptionally easy to spot in a crowd.

Just about the only thing I am not going to miss is missing her

and all of our human loved ones too, of course!