Siem Reap

Siem Reap:

Most tourists go to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat. You should go, but that's not all you should do. If that's all you see then you're missing out on the real Cambodia. Go explore other cities!

How to get here:
-From Phnom Penh on a bus it takes about 6 hours straight up National Road 6 and costs about $5
-From border of Thailand it takes about 2- 2 1/2 hours and costs about $3.75 or 15,000 riel

At Bayon temple, my favorite of the ones I visited

Things to do:
1. Angkor Wat: ($20) Go Do it. They say to actually see the temples you need 3 days. If you don't
have 3 days, go at least 1 full day. They're amazing. A Tuk Tuk will charge around $15 and they'll wait for you, or just tell them what time you want to go back. Always negotiate price before you get in and hold firm, they might try to hassle for more when you leave. Here's a post about when I went to Angkor Wat. You can go at 5:00 for sunset and get in for free to explore until the sun goes down.
2.Other Temples: Angkor Wat is only one temple complex, but in the area there are tons of other temples. Bayon was my favorite and Ta Prohm was also wonderful. There are many other temples which are a bit outside of Siem Reap that I've heard are worth the visit, they're less crowded, and more jungley. Many tuk tuk drivers or hotels have maps of all the temples in the Siem Reap area, so you can decide where to go.
3. Visit a Floating Village: If you have a tour guide, they can take you, or your hotel can set it up. Definitely go visit a floating village. I'd highly recommend going with a local guide. They will likely take you on a smaller boat, and take you to more interesting places.
4. Get Massages: You can get an amazing hour long massage for prices that will blow your mind. Hal and I got an hour long couples massage for $8 each, and it was wonderful. There are a ton of places around Siem Reap, and most of them are great.
5. Crocodile Farm: These are really cool, and they're all over Siem Reap. If you meet a nice Khmer
person, you might ask if they know someone who has crocodiles and you can go see them for free.
That's what we did, and it was pretty cool. There is a huge main one, so if you ask a tuk tuk driver
that's probably where they'll take you.
6. Silk Farm: I've never been, but it seems really cool. It's about a 20 minute ride outside of Siem
Reap. That way you get outside of the city and get to see a hint of what the rest of the country is
like.
7. Visit Modern Wats (Temples): I love visiting different wats, they're all different and all beautiful. The monks are always happy to have people look around. Wat Thmei has an area memorializing the Khmer Rouge and killing fields. Wat Bo isn't too far from the western part of Siem Reap.
8. Shop: There are endless markets all over Siem Reap. There is a large one inbetween the river and pub street. My favorite one is directly across the river from the western area. The Night Market is open late and is good too.

This is inside Il Forno

Where to eat:

1. Il Forno: ($8)This Italian restaurant is pricey by volnteer standards, but isn't by western standards. This restaurant has the best Italian food I've ever had. You should make reservations as they're often

very busy, but it will be worth the hassle, I promise.

2. Viva: ($5) This is great Mexican food, and often very cheap. Their happy hour is practically all day, so you can get cheap drinks and $1 tacos.

3. Le Boulangerie: ($5) This french restaurant is run by a Khmer chef trained in France, and it shows.

Such good food! You can build your own sandwich for $4, and my my my, they're delicious; hands

down the most delicious sandwich in Cambodia.

4. F For Falafel: ($5.50) This place is great, you can get a giant Falafel sandwich with all the fixins for

$5.50. This feeds two of us it's so stuffed with goodness. They also make fabulous smoothies. I

recommend the Mango Passion fruit with yogurt.

5. The Maharajah: ($5) I always eat at this place when I am in Siem Reap. An Indian friend of ours recommended it and it did not disappoint. You get free rice with your meal which is uncommon for Indian restaurants in Cambodia. Get the chicken marsalal. It had chuncky veggies and a friend who doesn't usually like Indian food likes this dish.

6. Ivy: ($3) This is such a good restaurant. It's just down the street from the Riviera Hotel. On Fridays they do $1 tapas. It's not traditional tapas, but it's still delicious. Get the mini chicken burritos, or the beef medallions with green beans and please please get the pumpkin flan. They're also a guesthouse.

7. Blue Pumpkin: ($2) Ok...this is a time where I don't want to tell you of this goodness, because I

want them to run out :) They have amazing ice cream! If you have a group, it's cheaper to buy a tub...and you'll eat it all. But the real secret here is their baked goods. They have amazing cheesecake and macarons, but this is the hush hush part, get the mille feuilles. Get it and you won't be sorry, just make sure there's one left in the case for me :)

You can always hit up Lucky Supermarket or Angkor Mart for some western groceries.

Places to stay:

1. Angkor Park Guesthouse: ($7-$12) We always stay here when going to Siem Reap. The prices are
very reasonable, the hotel is clean, the two sisters who own it are awesome and it's very close
to the Pub Street area. This hotel is cheap and very basic, with hot water, a tv and comfy beds.
2. Tanei Guesthouse: ($20) This hotel is lovely and a step up from Angkor Park. They have a great
little pool and you can get breakfast included for very cheap. The staff is very nice, and the guesthouse has it's own tuk tuk which can pick you up for free. They also have bikes you can use for free.
3. Golden Banana Hotel: ($35) This is where we go swimming when we come to Siem Reap. The hotel is gorgeous, and reasonably priced, but out of our price range. The staff are very nice and the pool is fabulous.
4. Terrasse des Elephants: ($100) I've never stayed here, but a friend did and highly recommended it
if you want something really nice. The hotel rooms have mini waterfalls and ponds in them. The hotel has a pool on the roof. The price of the room usually includes one dinner at the restaurant.

A Note on Siem Reap: Because there are so many tourists here there are also a lot of beggers, especially children begging out at night. Please do not just give them money, and please do not let them trick you into buying them formula for their "sister". They will go right back and return it and take a cut from the store. Try giving them food or anything other than money and they get very angry.
I am more likely to buy something from a child who is selling something. I've met some very sweet children who have lost one parent and use the money they get from selling things to pay for English school. The children who are out on the street just begging don't need you to give them their money, it perpetuates their parents making the children beg to support them.

Lately

Since I've been back from Cambodia I've been doing my hair and nails a lot. I was deprived of prettiness for so long that I've been really enjoying trying out new hair and nail tutorials. I've also been trying out a lot of new recipes, mostly containing things we didn't have access to while in Cambodia.

Here's some of my recent trials

 1. Fishtail Braid 2. Chicken Schnitzel

3. Braids 4. Valentines Day Nails using this tutorial

1. My semi failed attempt at chevron nails 2. Mini Fench Braid 3. Top Knot

4. Twisted Mess 5. Christmas-y Nails 6. Spinach Fritatta

Have any hair or nail tutorials you've found that you just love? Share them with me!

Linking up with Rolled Up Pretty

30 things before 30: 1-15

I saw this list the other day on Away.com and loved it 30 things to do before you turn 30!
I'm heading towards my 26th birthday, so I thought it'd be fun to see which ones I've done.

1. Jump off something: Whether it be a tree by the river next to your childhood home or bungee jumping from the Victoria Falls Bridge in Zimbabwe.
-I've never jumped off anything significant, but I'd love to go bungee jumping someday.

2. See one of the Seven Wonders of the World: This is a tough one, because at 30, well, you still have the bank account of a 29-year-old. The good news here is that it doesn't necessarily have to be one of the originals—go for the Golden Gate Bridge (modern world), the Grand Canyon (natural wonder), or the Mayan ruins in the Yucatán Peninsula (USA Today new wonder).

-The Great Wall of China, Or Angkor Wat. I want to see more!

3. Party in Las Vegas: No person should exit their 20s without doing something they regret in Sin City. The place was basically built for us.
-I've only ever driven through Las Vegas, but my sister lives there now so I'm sure I'll see it soon.

4. Take a vacation that isn't Spring Break: You had your opportunity to drink beer upside down and insist you don't need sunscreen while in college.

-I feel like we've fulfilled this one this last year by going to Scotland, China, and Vietnam. Too bad we can't travel like that always.

5. Attend at least one large celebration: Mardi Gras, Full Moon Party, Easter Mass—I don't care, as long as you have to throw elbows to get to the bar, or the alter.
-This would be a lot of fun! New Years Even Times Square has my vote.

6. Hit up a nude beach: If for no other reason, use the time to look around and remind yourself of how young you actually are.
-I have yet to do this one...

7. Spend several days with only what will fit in a backpack: If you can brush your teeth with river water and comb your hair with a tree branch, you can most certainly figure out how to stop turning all of your white clothes pink.
-Having nothing in the Peace Corps makes you pro at living out of a backpack. Both Hal and I only took a backpack to China for a week. Hal loves backpacking though, I'd definitely like to go legit live out of a backpack for a few days.

8. Swim in the ocean: This is a must.
-I agree, this is a must! I've been lucky to swim in the ocean losts in both the Gulf of Thailand ocean, and the Pacific ocean.

9. Sleep somewhere where you have to light a fire to stay warm: Kudos if you can do so without matches.
-When we went camping in Yellowstone the first night and day it was snowing. It was so cold that no one wanted to leave the fire.

10. Do some sort of adrenaline sport: Raft a Class V rapid, mountain bike Whistler in the summer, surf a wave larger than your torso—meaning: do something that scares you.
-I've been white water rafting in Jackson Hole, but never all class V rapids.
.
11. Hit up one of the Caribbean islands: There are thousands to choose from. You'll most likely visit more than one in your lifetime, get a good jump on it in your 20s.
-We were so lucky to go to the Dominican Republic for our honeymoon!

12. Take one ultimate road trip: It can be with buddies, it can be camping, it can be on Route 66, Route 1, or the Blue Ridge Parkway. Double points if you have a reliable car to get there.

-For my graduation present we drove from Utah to LA, up to San Fran, into Oregon back through Nevada and into Utah. It was such a blast!

13. Go somewhere alone: At 30 you should be confident and worldly enough to wake up in a foreign country and know how to get yourself home.
-I could probably do this now. I would have been way too chicken to do it before doing the Peace Corps though.

14. Take a train somewhere: There are no hidden innuendos here. It's just nice to have the patience and maturity to sit still and watch the world go by.

-My first time on a legit train was in China to the city of Xian.

15. Go to a music festival: Hit up one of the big ones (Coachella, Bonnaroo, Glastonbury) and spend the weekend listening to good music, dancing, and having random song lyrics make you contemplate what you're doing with your life.
-Does Warped Tour count? I've been to a couple of Warped Tours.

Look for part 2 next week. How many of these have you done?

Funny Friday

This week's funny friday is a short one. It's brought to you by cheap half price valentines day candy.

Best. Conversation. Heart. Ever!!

Maybe I love it so much because we've started watching Prison Break and can't stop. And Tweener The Rat always says SUP, and when we're lazy and leave the subtitles on it says "what's up?" And I'm like Duh subtitles, get with the times...or the 2006 times.

Thanks conversation hearts for being with the times. Although, I could lose the CU L8R ones. I hate when people text like that so I never understand them and have to show them to Hal for a translation.

What's the best conversation heart you've seen?

Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh:

Phnom Penh (pronounced Puh-nom Pen) is a dirty place...it's definitely a third world country capital, but don't let that stop you from coming to visit. Don't expect it to be like Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh. Cambodia is much poorer than all of its neighbors and it's visible. But the city can be truly wonderful, and of course draws me in with its fabulous food.

Getting here: Phnom Penh is easy to reach from both Vietnam and Thailand.
-From Vietnam: Take a bus into Cambodia. You can get a visa on arrival at most borders. It costs around $10 and takes 6 hours.
-From Thailand: Take a bus to Aranyaprathet, which costs like $5 and takes about 4 hours. Don't let people mis-lead you telling you you need a visa before the border. You can get one on arrival. Drivers will lead you away to a place where you'll pay more. I think it's $20 for visa. Once you cross you'll be in Poipet. You can take a shuttle to the bus station where you can catch a bus to Phnom Penh for about $6.

What to do:

1.Wat Phnom: This is an amazingly beautiful wat right in Phnom Penh City. It's gorgeous, and the grounds around it are well kept. There is often an elephant on the grounds as well as monkeys. You have to pay to go to the top, but just walking around the grounds is beautiful. Don't pay to release the birds. They're trained to just come back.
2.Toul Sleng (SR-21): This was the main prison/torture camp during the Khmer Rouge regime, and it's in the heart of the city. It's horribly sad to see, but it's powerful and if you're looking to learn more about Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge, you should go here. They also have a movie they show, so you should look into the movie times and go when it's showing. Here's a post when I went to Toul Sleng.
3.Choeung Ek Killing Field: This is one of the largest killing fields just outside of Phnom Penh. Here's a post about when I went there. This place is very powerful to visit.
3. The Royal Palace: The palace was built in the 1860s and has been occupied by the kings ever since. It's gorgeous, and you can walk around many of the buildings and the grounds.

Where to eat:

1.The Shop ($5): This place is run by a French woman and they have one of the best menus in Cambodia. They have fresh yummy ingredients and their food is never disappointing. Passion fruit pancakes, don't mind if I do. They have amazing hummus, and their bread is baked fresh every day. Best croissant I've ever had!

2. Free Bird ($10): This place is spendy by my standards, but it's really good American food. I have a friend who swears by their biscuits and gravy. They also have really good sandwiches and root beet floats. They have a room in the back where you can bring 10 people and pop in a movie while you eat.

3. Flavors of India ($7): This is legit Indian food, run by Indians. $7 will get you a big thing of curry, and 2 orders of Naan, which will feed at least 2 starving people until we're stuffed. This place is fabulous. They even give you little appetizers, warm lime water to clean your hands after, and a little dessert. Mumtaz used to be amazingly delicious, and only 2 doors down, but they're trying to sell their business. Perhaps a new family of delicious cooks have bought it

4.  Fat Boys ($5): Fabulous sub sandwich shop with super fast delivery! They have so many toppings and you can order as many of them as you want. This place was started by an American and he really knows his sandwiches. Make sure to ask what the daily special is.

5. Pizza Company: If you're craving some Pizza Hut, this is the next best thing. Good pizza, a little spendy, but it will hit the spot.

6. Viva ($3) This is great Mexican food, and often you can get your food for very cheap. Their happy hour goes all day, so you can get cheap drinks and $1 tacos!

7. Casa Lika ($5) This is another yummy Mexican place right off of the river front.

8. Luna D'Autunno: Go to Luna NOW! This place lives up to it's hype. It's owned by an Italian family who also own Il Forno in Siem Reap and another one in Vietnam. This is some of the best italian food I've ever had. Their pizzas are yummy and please get their chicken and mushroom dish that is cooked in a clay pot. I dream of it at night.

9. Kineya: I couldn't find anything about this restaurant online. It's the best Khmer food I've had in Cambodia because it wasn't super true to Khmer village food. If you want to try food I'd suggest this place. It means ginger in Khmer, so that might help you find it.

Where to stay:

1. Phnom Penh City Hotel: ($15)This hotel is the basics. Nothing fancy going on here, but it's not a bad place to rest your head at night and it's cheap. The owner speaks good English and is really nice. There's a laundry mat across the street if you need that, and a Lucky supermarket right around the corner. It's really a great location in the city. Oh, remember when you tell your tuk tuk driver, it's Phnom Penh CITY hotel. They might try and take you to Phnom Penh Hotel which is big and fancy and expensive. Grab a card from the hotel and that should help clear things up. You can find cheaper places than this, but you won't have to worry about your belongings being stolen here.

2. SkyPark Guesthouse: ($10-$15) Skypark is pretty much in par with Phnom Penh City Hotel, except that the staff at SkyPark are really grumpy. All of them. This hotel is a lot bigger and has an elevator(if it's working) the Internet tends to also be spotty. They do have non ac rooms if you're looking to save a few bucks and don't mind just a fan keeping you cool. Burly is also owned by the same people and is just down the street.

3. Number 9 Hotel: ($20) I've never actually stayed here, but other volunteers have and they say it's a great hotel for visitors. It doesn't have a pool, but it does have a hot tub I think. Breakfast is included in the room price most of the time.
4. The Plantation: ($100) This is the perfect place to stay if you're looking for nice accommodations with a pool and everything. This is where a lot of volunteers have their families stay when they come into Cambodia.

Homemade Cufflinks - Easy DIY Gift for HIM

Remember when I said we were going low-key for Valentines? Well I had it in mind to make Hal something for Valentines. Except all those cutesy things like 52 reasons I love you cards and cute coupon books are cute and good ideas, but Hal would be like, oh this is great and then never look at it again. Ever.

He hates gifts he can't use. Then I found this post. Make your own cufflinks out of nuts and bolts and nailpolish? Sounds like the perfect gift for Hal.

So I went to Lowes and bought some nuts and bolts. I looked for ones with cute tops, and that weren't too long

Then, I used nail polish to cover them. I went through my colors and went with ones I thought Hal would like. I chose OPI Big Red Apple and this teal Revlon color.

I painted the tops of the bolts and all sides of the nuts.

You'll see I definitely got polish on my fingers painting the bolts, especially since I did 2 coats to make sure I got everything and it looked smooth.
But I'd say, overall they turned out really good.

He wears is french cut shirt all the time, as you can tell by the dirty sleeves in these pictures, but don't worry, that thing got washed this weekend. And bonus because it's not clothes and it's something Hal will totally use.

If I were to do this again, I don't think i'd go with the hex bolt unless I could find a skinnier one. It barely fits through the hole in the shirt.

Which City Should We Choose?

Remember when the groundhog said spring would come early? Well apparently he excluded Utah on that one.

It actually worked well in our favor that it snowed a lot. PCW (Price Waterhouse Cooper) one of the big four (biggest 4 accounting firms) invited everyone in Hal's program to come down to Sundance for a day of networking and skiing.

I don't ski or snowboard, so i just networked, but Hal enjoyed all of the snow.

We were sneaky and stayed for both lunches. The lunches were set up where there was a city listed on each table, so you sat where you think you might want to work. Then they had someone from that office who went to BYU there to talk to you about anything and everything.

Right now our top two cities are Washington DC and San Francisco.

We got to talk to great people in both places.

San Fran has family.

DC has Peace Corps family. DC might better lead to our goal of living abroad for a while.

They're both amazing cultural cities.

Which city do you like better?

Funny Friday

It's Funny Friday time. I was thinking of posts for next week and realized I didn't even have my Funny Friday post done, so I started looking through my phone for funny pictures and found this gem.

Some of you might not think this is funny.

I personally do. Maybe it's a twisted I lived in a third world country and know the culture kinda funny, but it's funny.

In Cambodia...men grow out their pinkie nails. Like grow out as long as possible. They pick their ears and nose and who knows whatever else with them.

One time Hal and another volutneer tried to grow out their pinkies, and I was all "I love you, but that thing has got to go."

Now this might be a little hard to see, so lean into the screen and get a good look. This is the longest I've seen a guy grow out his nails, and he didn't stop at his pinkie.

I hope I'm properly preparing you for this. This is a guy we saw on the bus. I acted like I was taking a picture of Hal. Sneaky Sneaky.

Sexy, no?

The Married Love

In Honor of Valentines Day Tomorrow I'm talking about love. Real Love.

You know how when you're dating and engaged and recently married you're a crazy person? We all in agreement on this one? Love at that point in time is like a drug. You're flying high for the whole world to see and it's awesome.

But what happens when that starts to wear off ?What happens when you're going though a rough patch in your relationship? What happens in the depth of your sadness when you look at your spouse and wonder "did we do this the right way?" "Can we fix this?"

Everyone will tell you marriage is work. I think most people understand that concept when they enter into a marriage. But at least I don't didn't realize how much work marriage can be sometimes.

Every marriage has those moments where you're both slipping, when you're busy, or hormonal, or stressed, or depressed or whatever it is, but all of the sudden you look at each other and realize that there's space between you that you didn't realize was there.

This happened to us recently. So what do you do when this happens? One of you needs to suck it up, put yourself on the line and have the talk. "How are we gonna fix this?" "What are you feeling?" "What am I feeling?"

I think for the first time in our marriage we had the best "the talk" we've ever had. Together we identified things we were each doing that was making the other feel hurt, unloved, annoyed, or any other host of emotions. Things had to change. It couldn't just be a talk where we say I'm sorry I'll try to be better and a week later you forget and slowly you stop trying. This had to be a 'I'm making a commitment to you to help make this a better marrige' talk.

So we wrote letters to each other. We each committed to a list of things of our own choosing, we signed and dated it. We have them displayed on our dresser so I can see them when I'm putting my makeup on in the morning; or Hal can see them when he's pulling a sweater out of the dresser. They are a visual reminder of our commitment to each other to make things better.

We're reminded that we each chose to be more positive people. To be more mindful. To not save a happy face for other people and take all of our hardships out on each other. To be happy and supportive of each other's pursuits even when we don't always want to be.

And you know, this time it feels really different. Maybe because we're both giving it our all. We're both working for a happier marriage, and you know what? We've had a happier marriage as a result. Funny how when you're both conscious each other's happiness all of the sudden you realize you too are happy. Blissfully marriedly happy.

I think relationships need reevaluating. Before the space grows so large you no longer can effectively communicate. Before one of you gives up because the space feels too large to overcome. Communication is key to a marriage.

When you're both working towards good all of the sudden you look at each other and think "Heck Yeah, this is fun. I love the way our relationship is going." So even though it's not twitterpaited drug love, it's long lasting, hard earned, real married love.

My V-Day Wishlist

 Valentines Day is coming up shortly this week! Now I'm not a V-Day hater. I get why people don't like the commercialism, and you should celebrate love every day. But I say heck, what's wrong with creating another special day to celebrate with someone you love? So I like it.

This year we're going low key for V-Day. Such is the life of poor returned PC volunteers and students living on one income. We used to go all out for holidays like this. We're learning to be more holiday budget friendly.

But that doesn't mean I can't dream, right?

Here's my list of thing I've been staring at for the past month.

--This skirt from Eshakti. I just love it, and it's nothing like I have, which always means it's a good addition to your closet.

Via Eskakti

--This Precious Pearls dress from ModCloth. Isn't this just the perfect dress for a fancy dinner or a Sunday you feel like dressing up a bit extra?

via Modcloth

--I can't decide which one of these I want from Lime Ricki. Which do you like better? You gotta help me choose. 

 



 via Lime Ricki

--I've been loving this shirt at Ann Taylor Loft for a while. I really want a shirt that has an exposed zipper in the back.

via Ann Taylor Loft

--And lastly, I like to pretend it's spring and therefore I'm dreaming of wearing this skirt, after seeing it's counterpart on ETellsTales. Doesn't it just scream spring?

via Target

And what does Hal want for Valentines day? To get good grades. So pray that his test scores come back high!

Funny Friday

Two days ago I head this slurping noise, and I was like what is that, and where is it coming from?

I followed the noise and found this

Usually when you catch our cat doing something like this she gets all embarrassed and runs away, but apparently she really wanted some fresh water and just kept right on drinking away from the dripping faucet.

Now you may want to avert your eyes, it's about to get a little sensuous up in here.

She must have gotten spoiled from having a fountain water dish at Hal's parent's house while we were gone in Cambodia. We gotta a diva kitty up in here.
I've heard of other cats who drink water from the bathtub after a shower. Does your cat do this?

Donating Plasma

The other night Hal and I were talking about an event this weekend. Ernst & Young has rented out Sundance Ski Resort for everyone in Hal's program, and this converstion happened:

"I don't have any snow pants. I can't snow shoe in jeans."
-"No, your pants will get all wet. Wait, don't I have some gaiters?"
"Didn't you buy them like a month ago with your plasma money?"
-"Yeah, I have no idea where they are."
"Well that was a useful $30"
-"I'm going to donate plasma all my life to buy things I want."
"But once you're done with school we'll make more money."
-"We'll be saving for a house and real stuff though. I need this to get things I want."

It was an adjustment coming home from Cambodia and having access to so much again. It was hard not to spend our savings away, especially because we relied on that the first month we were back home.

Now that we're living on one income, money can be really really tight. So I made a deal with Hal to save our savings. Donate plasma (or do anything else on the side to make money) and you can use the money for whatever you want.

I loved this post where Jamie from The CP talked about how no one "donates" plasma. Students sell their plasma to afford live. True That
Originally he started donating to save up for the gun he really wanted. Now I know how much he really wanted that gun since he hasn't put any of his money aside for it. Sometimes he buys things when he's in the chair for an hour donating the plasma. I may think some of his purchases are dumb, but I don't question them because it's his money to spend on whatever. (I was real glad he returned that holster though)
But guys, guess what. Hal's really sweet with his plasma money and has bought me little presents with it so I can have new things too. Did your heart just melt? Because mine did when he pulled my most recent present from underneath his shirt (nice wrapping, huh?).

He's been donating for a few months now, and just works it into his schedule to donate twice a week. After getting sick the first time he figured out you have to eat a lot of protien before and after donating to keep your body healthy. Honestly, even though it's not for me, I'm so grateful that he takes the time out of his crazy busy schedule to donate his plasma because it allows him to have fun with what he buys which makes me happy, and plasma is used for research and to make medicines which makes the world happy.

So thanks babe, thanks for being so dedicated and saving our savings.

Did you have to donate during your college years? What are your thoughts on donating plasma?

6 Months Back Home

Hal and I have been home from Cambodia for almost exactly 6 months now. Hard to believe we've been home that long.

In the 6 months we've been home we've gone from this:

To This:

We have had the snowiest winter here in Utah that anyone can remember. I've been feeling really cooped up with all of this snow, so last weekeend when we had a big snow storm come through and it literally didn't stop snowing for about 10 hours straight and dumped over a foot I decided to just enjoy it.

Hal's parents were coming home from a cruise so we decided to be nice and shovel their driveway and sidewalks for them, with just a bit of playing in the snow.

Above is the fresh snow on the driveway, and below is the piled up snow that hasn't melted away.

One of the biggest adjustments has definitely been the weather. Hal has been bundling up with thermals while I've been toughing it out, trying to get my body to readjust to the cold.

As much as I hated the humditiy and the heat while I lived in Cambodia. It's days like these, filled with endless cold and inversion that I miss that heat for half a second before I remember the lack of AC and endless sweating.

I think I'll take the snow.

Dear You

It's time to bring it back. The Dear You posts I used to do. It's been almost 2 years since I've done one! They're my mini letters to rant and rave about anything or everything.

Dear Blogger,
I know I'm so behind on this, but please take into account that I lived in a third world country when this change occured. What the heck? Why do we have to have lame embedded comments to be able to thread our replies? DUMB. I hate every form of comments except pop out windows. It just makes it so easy to continue reading a blog. I want threaded comments in my pop out window. Please fix this promptly.

Dear smarter bloggers,
If you know a way around my above complaint, please teach me your amazing ways.

Dear Selma,
I know you already tried to teach me, but my brain didn't understand. Please try again.

Dear February,
Why do you have so many birthdays? You're a short month, doesn't that mean statistically you should have less? My family has 7 birthdays. 7 of them. I can't decide if I like that, because they're all at once, but then no one has a birthday until mine in May.

Dear Essie,
I love you. Now that we're in love, can I have a discount?

Dear Hair,
Thanks for being awesome. After some really rough times of going longer between washings you've started to shape up. Now my 2nd full day with no washing doesn't look so bad anymore.
P.S. Please continue to get better

Dear Gossip Girl,
You have the best clothes of any show I've ever seen. I'm on season 6 and the dress Blair wore in episode 5 was my favorite so far. It fit her so perfectly, and the back of the dress was to die for. I couldn't find a picture of Leighton Meester with the back of the dress, so here's a picture of a chick from Glee in the dress.

P.S. If anyone ruins the end of Gossip Girl for me, I will cry.

Funny Fridays

The past two weekends we were dog sitting for my in laws who were on a cruise.

They have the cutest puppy! He's a golden doodle and he's so much fun to play with. Last Friday I went to pick him up from the kennel. They had just bathed him and blown him dry.

He was basically a giant fluff ball when I picked him up.
And here's when it gets good....the fluff on the top of his head was just calling to me, or to my hair holders really...

hahahha, that last picture just makes me laugh every single time I look at it. He kept it in for about an hour and then rolled around on his back until he got it out.

Pretty sure we're the best dog sitters ever.