Sounds like an awesome trip...where would you like to start?
For the 'dream' trip, I'd probably start here in seattle and work methodically north and east turn back around and keep going east and south incorporating all N. America before going to S. America and keep working my way east...
As much as i'm eager to take my kids to Scandinavia, i think i'd prefer to do the SE Asia tour with dh first...
Do you prefer the ocean or forest?
MMMM, forest girl by far! LOVE the sound of the padded forest floor, big lush ferns, cool air, and filtered sunlight (or raindrops) coming through the trees.
Favourite colour? so very hard to say in general. i like orange a lot (yes, i'm aware that's the 'color of insanity' ha!) and dark rich brown too; but no color makes me smile more than that intense late-afternoon yellow sunlight that comes down on trees and buildings every once in a while.
Icecream or cookies? Mmm, ice cream, but one of my favorites is with cookie dough mixed in!
Lately though, B&J's Americone Dream has been my 'special treat'.
Coffee or tea? I drink WAY more tea than coffee - and the quantity of teas i have is almost embarrassing (it is hard for me to get embarrassed, i have at least 40 - 50 + boxes of different stuff), but a warm cup of coffee (extra strength, please) is a big 'comfort food' for me. There's just something about holding a warm mug (preferably outside) with the smell of coffee coming up, a small sip here and there.
How did you and DH meet? Ahhh.. long version or short? Maybe long since it sounds like grandma is taking the little one to the park. - i'll recycle this and put it in my blog:
I decided to transfer to a small religious college in the middle of the year to study in an accredited social work program (this would end up to be college 2 of 5). My parents dropped me off to an empty dorm on new years eve and proceeded to drive off to a new years party in another town.
There was an RA at the dorm (literally the only other person there) and so i hung out with her and her friends as they started coming back after winter vacation. I quickly found it was a VERY tight knit group, frequently engaging in role-playing games and other self-inclusive activities. One of the last of the group members to arrive to school would be my husband, Doug.
'The group' kept talking about him as if he had super magic powers (in real life, not just play) about looks and intelligence. My first encounter with him was near curfew the day before classes started, he walked into the front dorm room where i was being taught an 'okay' card game (other mainstream card games were frowned upon and considered 'sinful' - this school/religion had a lot of quirks). He stumbled in, said 'hi' to everyone, including me when we were introduced, proceeded to turn around and completely pass out on the couch across from us. He looked like he'd been up for multiple days (he had) unshaven, in way out-dated black and white MC Hammer pants. Not a huge impression was left on me.
I didn't see him for a couple days after that. He claims he tried to say hi to me a few times but i 'ignored' him (i have a tendency to pay no attention to anyone or anything if i have a particular mission in my head, and there was a lot of crazy admission things i had to do, so i very well could have missed him entirely).
Finally about a week into the quarter, 'the group' was having a 'Zeitgeist' meeting (where they formally got together to discuss 'philosophical topics' and i decided to go in case i would be able to meet new people since i still knew no-one outside 'the group', but it turned out to be just 'the group' including Doug, who was there in a maroon suit, white shirt and green dress shoes and coordinating tie. He was 'dressed up' and everyone was very curious why he was dressed so formally.
He didn't want to say (for some reason, he was embarrassed to disclose to the group that he had been to court to fight a traffic ticket for driving on a dark, unlit road late at night that was closed for 'road construction' since there were not signs clearly marking the road's status - i have no idea why he wouldn't want to admit this). But to get the attention off of him, he directed it to me and asked why i was dressed up. I was wearing what i call my 'default' dress - the dress that i could throw on if i woke up late or had all my other clothes in the wash. It was one of those rayon, empire waste dresses that were so popular at the time (okay, they were popular a few years before, but they weren't MC Hammer era old). I didn't think i was dressed up, since it was put on with haste and not much thought, and i was surprised by his questioning my attire. When i'm surprised, i tend to BS. In that particular instance, i decided to BS about the importance of looking good, presenting the best outward image one could because first impressions went such a long way (normally, i preferred to 'shock and bemuse' people with my usually funky wardrobe at the time, not look 'presentable' and 'pulled together', so i was really going out on a BS limb for me).
Doug caught onto my BS immediately and started 'playing along' stating to his friends who were engineering, eng lit and computer science majors that it was important to get out of their 'geek' clothes once in a while and take care with one's appearance. He stated that he used to be 'dressed up' every day before he changed majors from business to computer science and transferred schools, and it was good to remember the importance of looking good.
Our BS exchange started to feed off of each other, we caught on that we didn't really care about 'first impressions' in the manner we were talking about, i remember the rest of the groups' heads going back and forth between the two of us in rapt enthrallment. I like to think at the time they were just so geeky that it was the clothes discussion we were having was what captured their attention, but in hindsight, i'm sure there was some electricity sparking above either of us and they were glued to the show.
*Somehow* Doug managed to get me to agree to a dress-up contest!!! Of all the silly things. I think i was trying to get out of the attention spotlight and dismiss the way i was dressed saying it was very rare for me to wear a dress, end of story, lets get on with philosophy nonsense, but Doug took the opportunity to use our BS lecture on me 'on the importance of looking good' and that we should make it a point to dress up every day for a while and the whole gang thought it was a great idea. They came up with a point system, what each of us had to have to meet the daily quota of 'dressed up' enough and we would be judged by the group at lunch. We couldn't wear the same exact outfit more than once in two weeks and the competition would go on for three weeks. We each had to borrow clothes to make the challenge, not that we let the other know at the time, of course. Totally insane, but that is what young people are.
The actual 'contest' lasted a full week or so before we both lost interest in being judged daily, so we ditched the competition but decided to keep dressing up for the remaining weeks. Every day we came within a point of each other and it was at an overall tie. It was amusing. It was especially amusing to me since i was taking art classes at the time (i know, i was there for a different degree...) so trying to keep the art materials off of my nice blouses and clothes was difficult, but the most amusing thing of it all was when it was all over and i started to dress 'normal' (i.e. traditional NW grunge/funk) for me was the weird reaction I got from my classmates over how i looked - no longer conservative as they had gotten to know me and outside their religious norm - so all the initial BSing rang true in the end.
We had our first kiss by the end of the third week.
