today was pretty great.. we went hiking around a gorgeous national park near Lake Taupo, and then.... white water rafting!! holy crap, it was amazing and i jumped off a 8m hill. into the freakin cold river. it was amazing!!

Today started off on a bad foot, but hopefully those silly bad feet won't be the parts I remember. Today started off cool and rainy, much like the past two days... not so great, as most of the stuff we were supposed to do was outdoors. Ah well. We went to the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, which was pretty incredible... the area that we are ( Read more... )

The past few days have been pretty crazy and jam packed.. we drove from Auckland to Hahei, lots of horribly windy narrow roads through mountains - gorgeous, but I really do think I need to relax after this vacation. We walked around a shorebird center, which was kind of cool, and finally reached our b&b for the night. Amazing place, incredible ( Read more... )

Holy crap! I am in NEW ZEALAND!! Even though I have now gone through the 13 hour flight and customs and such, it still doesn't seem real. Also, it is Friday. Thanksgiving was officially cancelled for me this year. I think it is a fair tradeoff though. Crappy airplane food and not too much sleep, but new continent, new adventures... Excitement. ( Read more... )

I have already started my grand adventure that will ultimately bring me nearly to the other side of the world... we are spending a few days in San Francisco before hopping on a plane for an ungodly amount of time to get to New Zealand! I am very excited, it should be a blast, I may write about it on here and/or post pictures. My mom is blogging it ( Read more... )

so im working on a quilt. and have been for a while. and i havent gotten very far, because it is a ginormous undertaking and i have not been too on top of it. but i am hoping to bring some bits from friends in too. if anyone has any fabric laying around, of any type/color/finish, and wants to cut me a 7" square, you can help make my quilt amazing! ( Read more... )

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090810024837.htm

why is this not being more widely publicized???

Nov 21: fly to SAN FRAN!
Nov 25-27: fly to NEW ZEALAND!!!!!
Dec 19: fly to LA!
Dec 23: Back home.

holy crap. so excited!!!

I just had pan fried oyster mushrooms, roasted fava beans and a quesadilla with squash blossoms, black beans, chiles and a fried egg for dinner! Most of all of that came fresh from the farmer's market yesterday. It was delicious! And it is the first time I have actually cooked anything out here, so I am pretty stoked.

this week finds our intrepid traveller employed in california, all of a sudden ( Read more... )