Illing

Home sick for the second week. The docs thought it was walking pneumonia, but just a wretched bronchial and sinus infection. Being lazy and staying in bed does not come as easily as it used to. I've never been a big nap taker and recently sleeping in gives me anxiety for all the things that need to get done. This is, of course, not my favorite trait for the Mr., as he worships his weekend sleep-ins. But, the last 20 hours of my life have been spent in bed. Either reading, sleeping, coughing, or researching our potential India vacation. This could be a good or bad thing because I've now researched hiking in Darjeeling so much that if I don't go, I will feel as if my short time of the lazy life was for not. If we do go, this is where we will be hiking:


We are also tossing an Ireland trip with a bonus of Bruce playing in Dublin. That would be amazing as well. I'm more into the Ireland part, but P. is all about Bruce in Dublin.

Either way, 2008 will bring much great travel.

I'm a Mackinaw Maniac

I love, love, love Mackinaw Island.

The trip was amazing. We spent three glorious and hot (80 degrees plus) days biking and hiking around mackinaw island. With no cars, it is an incredibly cycle and hiker friendly getaway. Minus the piles of horse matter along the way, it is a lovely place to visit.

We had some amazing meals while visiting. First night, was Goodfella's - a local from New York told us it was the best pizza. It wasn't bad - even the guy from NJ gave it two thumbs up. Second night, we ate at a fancier joint recommended by a friend - The Woods. Holy Crap, was that some good food. I had a filet that melted in my mouth. To. Die. For. (I just recently learned that I use that phrase a lot when talking about food.)

Here are some pics from the trip. *Please note that I married Ansel Adams, so I've included some of his nature shots as well.


Gorgeous Lake Michigan.


A trail in the middle of the island. Truly amazing that we were surrounded by water, yet when hiking in the trails, you felt like you were in the middle of a forest, a milltion miles away from the water.


Arched Rock


Can you believe this is a lake? I'm new to this lake stuff, so I might keep saying this, but this is what I imagine the carribean to look like. Oh, but it's too cold to swim in it!




I'm now obsessed with the natural habitats of the Great Lakes. My job has influenced my interest in ecological restoration, but once you hit these beaches, you will want to be a part of it too.





This could be my favorite picture of the trip...Why, you ask? Because now P. will go biking with me. He got the hang of it and now I have him hooked! Century races, here we come!

And the really great part of Mackinaw - My hips didn't hurt once. It's been almost two years since my hip surgery and sure enough, I think I'm finally getting better. Now I'm inspired to do more.

I talked with a good friend who lives in Cali tonight, and she is doing triathalons every few weeks. I've got the bug to train and will be getting back into it next spring. Anyone want to join?

Mackinac Island

We all know that I'm obsessed with traveling....take me anywhere, call it a trip, and I'm a happy gal.

For my bday, P. is taking me on a trip to Mackinac Island in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. There are quite a few things that excite me about this little getaway.
1. P. won't work for three days. He's pulling some seriously long hours these days.
2. They are famous for their fudge
3. No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island
4. Renting a bicycle built for two
5. Sailing around the island and the historic lighthouse

I'll post some pics when we get back. We are looking for restaurant recommendations, so let me know if you've ever been...

30 ain't so bad, right???

I have two weeks left of my twenties. My twenties, people. I'm fine with turning 30 but I'm just so shocked that it's happening. I don't know what happened to the last few years of my life.

I busted out an old journal that had a list of 10 things I wanted to do before I was 30. I wrote this the week of my 20th birthday. The list had rules - no item could be about relationships, love or money. Rochelle, do you remember this? I think we wrote it after a night with Nate and Beers.

Here is the list:
1. Run a marathon
2. Publish a fine novella
3. Scuba the Great Barrier Reef
4. Work for National Geographic
5. Publish in Travel and Leisure
6. See a rain forest
7. Skydive
8. Learn to speak another language. Bonjour!
9. Join the Peace Corps
10. See the seven wonders of the natural world and the remaining of the ancient world.

I was ambitious, huh? I've accomplished 1, 6 & 7. Not so good. Granted I wrote that list while I was still a journalism major and thought that my first job out of college would be for National Geographic. Then I dropped that and became an English Major. Smart, smart move! Because that degree has really helped out my need to travel.

Rather than write another list that will probably dissapoint me when I'm 40, I'm just going to be better at things I care about and do more of what I love.

Par example...

I want to be a better environmentalist. We had some friends over for dinner last week and I said to my gal pal who is a brilliant writer for USA Today, "I'm smarter because I'm friends with you." To which her husband responded, "I feel like an environmentalist because I'm friends with you." This embarrassed me because I'm not as good as I could be. I have a rain barrel, but it sits in my garage, obviously not collecting rain. We have a compost bin that was supposed to be under the sink but attracted too many fruit flies, so I moved it to the garage. We try to remember to bring our cloth bags to the grocery store, but often forget them hanging in the garage. I think the moral of this story, kids, is that I need to tear down my garage in order to start practicing what I preach.

I want to go to grad school. I've been saying this since the day I graduated from the fine establishment known as Colorado State University. My desires for a degree have varied greatly. There was the "always pulling at my heart strings" Masters in English. The practical MBA. The Masters in Non-Profit Management. The Masters in Higher Education. I'm back to the MBA, but it's a long shot that I'll get through the GMAT, do well, and then be admitted to my school of choice. We'll see...

I want to hike more. This includes but is not limited to: every fourteener in Colorado; The Himalayas; Mount Hood; Mount Rainer; VFR's dream Hawaii hike. You name the mountain, I probably want to hike it. The aforementioned environmentalist friend would be really disappointed if I did not include skiing in this, so I will. I would like to ski every mountain in the United States. Well, every decent one. Boyne is not included in that list.

I want to travel more. I can't complain about lack of travel this year, but VFR and I feel as if we have only scratched the surface. There are so many trips: India, Eurorail through the EU, Australia and NZ, Chile with the Carty's, Hawaii..honestly, the list goes on.

The list could go on and on, but why torment the future Ericka.

Turning 30 will come and go like any other day but I'm hoping it slows down just a bit, so I can enjoy it more.

A Belizean Moon

The honeymoon was great. I posted some pictures below...Pete posted some great pics and a recap on his blog.

If you are planning an adventure vacation anytime soon, I highly suggest Caves Branch Jungle Lodge. Our bungalow was everything you could imagine, including a spider bigger than Pete's hand.

Highlights include:
1. Hiking in the rain forest
2. Repelling off a 300 foot cliff
3. Rock climbing off a waterfall and then jumping off said waterfall
4. The Carribean and Pina Coladas
5. Crossing the border into Guatemala and having the Belizean Passport agent look at my passport, smirk, laugh to himself and say, "hah, any relation to Deuce?"
6. Mayan Ruins
7. Conquering a HUGE fear of snakes. We were in the jungle, so there were a lot of snakes. We didn't see many but knew they were all around.
8. Nightly Belikins at the lodge with our adventure friends
9. Real Pineapple Juice. We are not talking Dole here, people. Un-frigging-real
10. Guatemalan Coffee. Jump starts a heart and tastes caramelly and delicious.
11. Six whole days with my husband. This was our first trip where it was all about us. Awww...

Here I am repelling off a rock down into the rainforest. Once you get off the rock and are just kind of floating above the canopy, it's a pretty amazing experience. The walking off the rock thing...well, let's just say I might not choose that as my first adventure next time.
We didn't get to snorkel because of a tropical wave, but as you can see we had a nice view to keep us busy: Our trip to Guatemala to see the Mayan Ruins in Tikal:

Our next big adventure is planned for Spring '08. We are heading to India to visit some friends. There are also slight murmurs around the house about hiking Rainer in July...if only we had unlimited airline miles and days off.

A friend of a friend of a friend of a friend

Be prepared to weep and be moved. If you have 10 minutes, listen to this speech:
http://www.scatterstick.com/leespeech.html

I used to work with her husband and have been following her story. I am humbled by their strength.

If you are interested, here is the whole story. Start at the beginning and remember to carry kleenex:
http://luchalee.wordpress.com/

A blog for Todd

See, Todd, I told you I would remember the title.

It's been a while since I posted and it is not due to lack of activity, it's due to too much activity. Summer is upon us and the ice cap called Michigan has finally melted and I'm in love with this place. Don't get me wrong, it ain't the Rockies, but Ann Arbor is an amazing town.

We are totally consumed with the house, work and travel right now. All great but I'm ready for a long, long nap.

The Job
The job is wonderful. No complaints...well I do have one and I will gladly take this up with my boss...during the interview process, they failed to tell me that the gardens has one of the largest Masusaga Rattle Snake populations in Michigan. I'm told that they are more frightened of me than I am of them. I don't believe them and I'm freaked.

We had a stream of visitors come through and we took them to see the Botanical Gardens and Arboretum. See if you can spot a Batla in the peony garden below:
My favorite trail with my mom:
(This is my office - jealous?)

The House
The house is good. We were warned about the unforeseen expenses of owning a home, so we bought a newer house and within three weeks we have experienced these unforeseen expenses. This past month alone, we spent a decent chunk of change on the following: Lawn Mower off Craig's List. Water Softener from Loews. Potting soil and gardening tools. Lawn Mower repair guy because buying used ain't always bright and sunny. There is a broken air conditioner that needs tending too as well. I'm thinking renting was not so bad?

We did luck out with a professionally landscaped garden and didn't have to add much to it. We returned home from NJ last week to find these opened:


The Trips
Two great nights in NYC with friends and family

A wedding in New Brunswick (or was it east?)

Pete got a yamaka:

Todd got a blue candle holder:
Next Trip - our honeymoon - finally. We are going to Belize and staying at Caves Branch Lodge. I'm pretty excited about this. If you go to the site, check out the honeymoon package and you will see what kind of adventure awaits us. We have opted not to sleep in the cave. I'm all for diving around and exploring but the thought of staying in a cave overnight where an entire civilization vanished is not my idea of romantic honeymoon.

Why can't I get paid to travel? We would be so good at it.

Home, Sweet Home

Ladies and Gentleman - otherwise known as my three readers...we have moved into the new house. We have a few boxes to unpack and have taken four trips to the recycling center but it's over and we are home. I love the new digs and am looking forward to a summer of gardening and domesticity. As we were looking for houses, a yard was not on the priority list. In fact, it may have been considered a negative by my husband, but now we're enjoying the idea (I might be taking serious poetic license here for Pete, but you get the picture.)

On Thursday night we received a wonderful visitor. The Comcast Guy. Though we were "technically online" Thursday, it was not until yesterday that it actually started working. It was annoying but the end result is daily Internet. So, I will post more. Including some pics of the new digs, the new garden and the Midwesterners formerly known as the Coloradoans.

For now, I'm going to lift another box of books...speaking of books, when moving us in, a friend of Pete's said "the one crappy thing about moving a journalist is the amount of books he has." Little did the friend know that the journalist married an english major and the books are doubled.

Hasta

Gainfully Employed

I knew it was coming sooner or later...Although I was wishing for later rather than sooner.

I start the new gig on Monday and am pretty excited about it.

And if everyone can do me a big favor, please don't tell Pete who owns the Gardens. I know it wasn't written in the nuptials, but I'm sure in our "secret vows" (thank you laurie and chad) that we said "And I vow to never defame The Ohio State University."

So, goodbye Ellen and Oprah. Goodbye bizarre but delightful people in the coffee shop. Goodbye leisurely walks through TJ Max and Borders. Goodbye to reading a book a week, a magazine every few days and two different papers daily. Sigh.

Hello Alarm Clock.

Ice is Nice

As promised, some Ann Arbor photos.

Here are a few shots after the Ice Storm. Yes, Ice Storm, people. Actual ICE fell from the sky and I found myself in the 9th circle of hell. It turned our tree lined street into this Narnia looking avenue. Despite all my moaning, it was beautiful.

The house in the photo is the one we are renting.


And after the storm, we went to the movies...

My darling husband had a bit of an accident...he ran into a wall while we were at the movies. What you see in this picture is a rug burn. The wall was carpeted and he scuffed off the skin. It was one of those moments in your life that you have to choose laughter over sympathy. We laughed for days after this happened.

Getting Old Ain't Cool

Hello friends so far away...

I miss you guys. I miss Colorado. I miss the Bucks trips with the girls. I miss the DBG. I miss it all. Just wanted/needed to say that.

The job hunt is going well- hopefully gainful employment is on the not-so-distant horizon. Though I've grown accustom to watching my shows while Pete slaves away at the office. I cook three course meals and keep a tidy house. I spend hours in the coffee shop, trying to keep warm cuz this is the coldest place on earth. Antarctica has nothing on Michigan. Nothing.

But, all in all, I can't complain. We see each other every day - a novel concept for two people who spent the last three years of their relationship spending two nights a week together. So I shant complain because it's a very fair trade-off.

We visited Pete's grandparents this weekend. Pete's grandpa has dementia and so he does not live in the same wing as his wife, Pete's grandma. We took Grandma B over to see Grandpa B and he got teary when he saw his wife. He was so excited to see his beloved and to give her a treat. He had saved some pudding for her. It was stashed away in a drawer with the cellophane wrapper clinging to the bowl. The man can't remember much but he remembers how much he loves his wife and saves her pudding because she likes sweets.

I don't want to get old. But when I do, I know that I will probably be stashing bowls of cereal for someone special.

I promise to post some pictures of our new town soon. It ain't easy because we don't have internet at the house, so for now, all this posting happens at a coffee shop.

And we're here...

We made it! It was a long, long road trip but broken up by some great stops. First, it was Omaha to meet our adorable new nephew, Nathan. He is precious. Absolutely precious. He is a good mixture of Rachel and Dan. He has completely stolen my heart.

Then we were off to Chicago/Batavia to visit the Yoch's. On our way out of Illinois, we hit the Crate and Barell outlet. Their furniture is 50-80% off. Are you kidding me?!? Pete has no idea what beast has woken inside of me. Time to decorate in a big, big way. I will wait until we purchase our place in a few months (hopefully) but we will be making our way back to Chicago very soon.

We arrived in Ann Arbor on Friday night. Our house was there, in tact, and quite nice. We have spent the last few days exploring our new town, and its surrounding cities. It's a great city and Michigan is a lot prettier than I thought. I'm looking forward to finding more outdoor activities, but that might have to wait until the spring.

Our movers arrived this morning and only one thing broke: the big TV. No biggie, as it was from the mid-90's and needed to be updated anyway.

Now it's on to the great job-hunt. Though I could really get used to my new lady-of-leisure status. Perhaps. Perhaps.