Hail to Spring

Some Pics from the UBT 2005 Europe Tour

THE AMAZING UBT!!!

I went on a stroll down memory lane to the six weeks I spent touring Europe with 3 of my friends in 2005. (Which we lovingly named the UBT for reasons that will remain nameless) I can never get over how little we look...and we thought we were so old, lol. Some aren't the most flattering or best pics, but they are funny and happy, and there are some good scenic shots too. I think some of the pictures aren't mine, but I can't remember. Lizzie, Anne, and Kim, you guys rock...gosh we had a blast (even though it was hard).

Anne's uncle's cafe in Offenbach, Germany, the very first place we went off the plane.

Aunt Nettie's apartment building.
Frankfurt
Night view of Paris from up by Sacre Coeur, note the creepy orange moon, it really was that color.

Versailles with the fountains on!!!

Restaurant in the latin quarter in Paris. The food was awful, but we had fun. They had live music and kept making us dance so people would want to come in. The waiter--with no by your leave--picked lizzie up and put her on top of a 2 1/2' box to dance on.

London.
Saltzburg
Venice (I don't think this is my picture...I think maybe Kim took it.)
Venice from a random island we we to, that we thought had a beach. Maybe it did, but we didn't find it. So instead we had a nice tour around surburbia Venice.

Murano.
Yes, yes, there was a sign in the road that pointed towards Matrimony in Rome. And yes, it does actually mean matrimony. Counting Kim (who is behind the camera) we've got two under the sign still and two off wherever the arrow is going.

Rome. What a lovely goddess...if I do say so myself. :)
Rome.
The ABSOLUTELY AMAZING hot air baloon located in random park in Rome. They said it was too windy to go up, but Lizzie assured us that "They don't mean it" and she was right.
Seriously most awesome ballon ride EVER! You guys all look so young!
Pouring in Pisa.
Our favorite moment in Cinque Terre. Good thing it ended up being worth it.
Prague. I would love to go back.
Ending with a good picture. On the soccer field in Anne's Grandma's village, Kaspenhausen. (I get oodles of brownie points if I spelled that right.) Which was one of the most idyllic places i've been. I absolutely HAD to have those pants (Viva la H&M!!!!!) I bought them, and got home and reallized how truly almost neon they were. I wore them once or twice and called it quits, I still have them, but the last time I wore them was when I was being a crab for halloween.

You've got to heart the French

Location: Near to Le Madeleine

Wonton Jokes

I've hit one of those times where my test message box is so full that sometimes I have to delete something before I can send another text. No good. I have texts from over the past year, and so many times my finger has itched to press the 'empty inbox' option, and this is one of the main reasons why I haven't done it.

Ages and ages ago my friend Andi had a bunch of us over to learn to make pot stickers (it was a blast and very yummy). My family got it wrong and for some reason thought we were making wontons. My mom and Whitney had a field day and peppered me (via texts) with wonton jokes. I must say that they are both very clever. So here they are for your pleasure! I have such an awesome family.

You look wan, Ton.
How much do i weigh? Won ton.
How many won? A ton.
We've pot to stick together.
Won-'t you ton-ce with me?
You've pot to stick to it.
You're a won ton child.
I can't won. I'm ton-ally out of ideas.
I won ton suck your blood.
I won ton-ly you.
You're home? I won-ton to see you.
I won ton oh what you're doing.

Marilyn Whitney and her amazing dress

So my mom and I went into a thrift store a couple of weeks ago. We saw this dress on the end of a rack, our jaws dropped, and we had to buy it for Whitney. It is pretty much the awesomest thing ever...as is Whitney.

Also, in all my brilliance I filmed the movies sideways, but I guess I'll just post them anyway, sorry.

...and yes, that is a cape. The dress has a cape.

Babysitting!!!

I was able to babysit Jade for a couple of hours this morning. She was really good and we had a lot of fun at Smith's clothes shopping. She's pretty much got it down already. Waylon, brace yourself. :)

How real is fiction?

The other day I was trying to convince my Mom of the probability of something happening and she wasn't buying it. Finally I came out with "It happens in movies.", as if this was if not conclusive, at least reasonably strong proof of my point. After I said it I stopped for a second as I realized the ridiculousness of what I'd said. While this is taking my ideas to an unreasonable extent lately I have felt that parts of fiction were almost part of my reality. We always write off fiction as improbable, ridiculous, and to be slightly scoffed at...or on the other hand something to be somewhat long for, but but not to be expected in real life. But, all fiction has a base in reality, first in the mind of it's creator, and secondly in us, the audience.

In order to create imaginary happenings it seems that nearly everything must have some base in the experience of the creator. Whether staying realistic, or reacting against the realistic and creating unrealistic there are bases in real experience and emotions. In some cases I feel like things we label as improbable wouldn't be in fiction if similar things didn't actually happen. Things remind me of snatches of books I have read and movies I have seen. I have fallen off the back of a treadmill, found that sometimes one can see pain in people's eyes, heard stories of how couples met as crazy as anything you've ever seen in a chick flick. Small things, but in a strange way it sometimes feels like suddenly discovering a friend I didn't know I had, other times I am totally incredulous that I just actually saw that happen for real, often funny, sometimes eerie, sometimes reassuring, other times sad. On the other hand, however, fiction is fiction, and just because it happens in movies doesn't mean it is likely to happen outside of fictitious confines.