13 flights, 15 beds and one killer sinus infection later....

yes indeed, it has been a wild ride.

i'm all packed up and ready (and a wee bit sad) to leave the good ole u s of a. from milwaukee to boulder to denver to minneapolis and madison this truly has been a fabulous summer. i got to see all but just a few of my favorite people, albeit quite short and very action packed. here are just a few of my pics from the trip.

snow cole represents: april, me, kristin, jules and rose

the bride herself : kim sagami verly!

the bay crew at the 4th: brooke, katie, olivia, beth, allie and i

the schedlers

my portland ladies: katie, me, kyle, margo, molly and mara

grandpa bill and me in his dodge caravan


thanks to everyone who gave me a bed to sleep in, an afternoon to lunch with or just welcomed me back like i had never left. i'm so blessed by incredible friends and family!
until next summer....

bali

i've been in bali for a week already, loving most minutes of it! i've met some great people, and have enjoyed being able to do or not do things as i please (then again, when don't i?)...some of the highlights thus far have been nusa lembongan. that little island was fabulous. i met some great people at my hotel, lots of solo travellers and a great couple from england who i did a little scooter excursion with. beautiful snorkelling and sunsets...and fabulous fish kabobs.
i've been in ubud for 3 days now, will stay for two more. went on an incredible eco-educational bike tour yesterday. biked downhill for 25 KM and then back up for 5KM. yeesh. my body woke me up screaming this morning...lots of aches and pains. but it was incredible to pedal through the rice fields and the small villages, high fiving the kids as we went.
i've done some great yoga an incredible yoga studio-the yoga barn. no other space will ever compare to this...
and i've also seem some phenomenal(running out of adjectives) balinese dances.
below are the pics:)
i'm off to plan my travel to the next place....seminyak or canggu...haven't decided yet.
much love!
b

sweet endings

in a year so much can happen. sometimes retrospect doesn't really do it justice...it's what the future starts to look like that helps you realize the growth. it's not only the expectations that you have acquired, nor the places you now couldn't imagine never visiting, nor the people you know you want to experience it with, what it is just that newer part of you that carries on.
school ends on thursday at noon and i can't wait. i'll be off to bali at 11 that night. my move will happen while i am gone, so when i get back, ill be in my new digs.


ill write from the southern hemisphere, and look forward to seeing you all in less than a month.
all my love

monsoon may?

it's been a crazy few weeks of storm and rain! for the last 2 weeks we have had crazy rains and storms every night with the exception of one or two. big booming thunder, crazy lightening and monsoon like rains. so has the monsoon arrived early? i am no expert to say. i do, however, kindly welcome the 75 degree rains. they are much more human than the 110 degree heat. happy rain.

so we have 5.5 days of school left. clearly, i am very busy today. i can't wait. patting myself on the back for making it through the year in india. it;s been an experience.

i am off to bali on the 29th...going to learn how to scuba and travel the island on my own. i'm excited for my first real solo travels, nervous too. i'll be back from bali and hopefully moved into my new apt., then I will head up near Mori Village to see Eamon at the Tons River camp.

On June 18th I head back to the states, just in time to see the beautious brides Allie and Kim get married.
And heads up all you PDX people. i bought my flight, expect trouble to roll in on the 5th of july and stay through the 12th!

All the best to all my readers...thanks for sticking with it!

who did it?

murder mystery party 2008. skye, gene and kendra started this lovely tradition.
i was rosie marie, the proud owner of the juice joint where all the trouble went down. you can see we all played our roles (at least dressed them) well!
man, my life is fun.

hill stations: mussourie

they're all over the foothills of the himalayas. they are small towns that the british established to get away from the summer heat. a few weeks back eamon and i headed up there to do just that, escape the heat. truth be told there wasn't much to see, so we booked a fancy hotel and enjoyed getting pampered. hey, that's why we work, right? here are some pics from our fancy hotel, and it's fancy view(s)

we opted for a day trip to kempty falls. aka: wisconsin dells india. just picture, hundreds of indians renting swimsuit (probably more like swim wear) and innertubes, just floating under this glorious waterfall. just to top it all off, they had a 'hindola,' a pleasant ride up down to the falls.

the taj finally

So my mom and Sara came to visit last week! My mom's friend Sue also made the trip. We had quite the adventures. India is def. not for my sister, but I think she walked away with some lasting impressions:) right sare? We headed up to Rishikesh, they met Eamon, rafted and survived the (seemingly) treacherous roads. We washed away all of our sins in the Ganges and even got some henna-mehndi tattoos! What a hoot.
After that trip we headed to the Taj in Agra and then to Jaipur in Rajhastan. I thought it was a fabulous trip...we met a few great people who helped make out trip fabulous, and we did some serious shopping...it was non stop fun with a little exhaustion in between
Below is a pic of Amber Fort in Jaipur, and you know the other one....it's the TAJ!