Bye bye green machine...

...hello blue steel!


Yes, we've traded in my trusty ol' green Outback in favor of some serious blue Fahrvergnügen, wagon style (I'm a wagon gal, ya know). Das gefällt mir sehr.

Will I look like that in 3 months?

This is random, but I came across these pictures of an influential celebrity stylist. Her clients include many of the famous young starlets, such as Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, Mischa Barton, Jessica Simpson. They are sometimes referred to as clones, an assembly line, or "Zoe-bots".

I never paid much attention to this stylist until today, when I read that she and I are the same age! OK, she's a few months older than I am. Regardless, I was shocked. I honestly thought that she was MUCH older (click on the pictures to see what I mean). Celebrities are taking styling tips from her?? Now I guess I understand why there are so many unattractive celebrities out there. Apparently, repulsively skeletal frames, bleached fried hair and orange spray-on tans over leathery skin are "in". Have you seen Kate Bosworth or Sienna Miller? Ick. I just hope teenage girls aren't buying into this garbage.

Note: When you compare the two pictures, feel free to ignore my somewhat prominent clavicle. I realize that I have a bony chest. I've always had a bony chest. But I feel better now, knowing that at least it's not like that xylophone that Rachel is sporting. And yes, I ate all but two (I had to share with Chris) of the sweets on the plate I'm holding.

Mapping the 'moon

I have a LOT of pictures from our honeymoon. So many, in fact, that I have been overwhelmed by the idea of narrowing them down to a select few for display on my blog. The sheer number of pictures has caused me to avoid posting...and now I'm behind again.

In an effort to get back on track, I'm going to ignore that digital pile o' photos for now. Instead, I've put together a couple maps to let you know where went and what we did. Click on the maps to see the full-size version.

Hiking in the Bernese Oberland (a.k.a. the Bernese Alps)
We backpacked all over Jungfrau region. It was amazing. The weather was perfect, other than a couple of hours of rain while we hiked along the Eigerwand. I managed to pick one lodge in Murren which ended up being a mountain hut ABOVE Murren (which is an important distinction after you've been backpacking all day) and we spent our last night at the Monchsjochhutte (Monch Saddle Hut - a high-altitude hut used by climbers who are summitting the Monch, Jungfrau or Eiger peaks); otherwise, we stayed in simple pensions and hotels in each village. Chris really liked the Swiss cuisine and was very happy eating his daily Gulaschsuppe for lunch and Roesti for dinner. I was sick with a cold for most of this part of the trip, so I stuck to soups and hot chocolate (Schoggi - yum) for the most part.



Cruising along the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia
After a week of hiking, we hopped on an overnight train to Venice and boarded the m/s Andrea to enjoy a week of sun and water in Croatia. Our ship was a converted ferry from Norway, and it looked pretty tough docked alongside the enormous cruise ships. There were only 75 passengers on our ship and the vast majority of them were retired Brits. It was a really fun crowd -- we enjoyed dining with them and getting hassled for being SUV-driving Americans. (Note: I don't actually drive an SUV.)

We also thoroughly enjoyed Croatia itself. Since our ship was small, we were able to weave around the islands and visit many towns that the big cruise liners missed. Croatia is still relatively unspoiled by tourism, and it was wonderful to walk through the alleys, climb up the hills to the fortresses, and wander along the waterfronts. We biked through the National Park in Mljet, swam at the beach in Split, walked the city walls in Dubrovnik, listened to live music in Hvar, and I had at least one ice cream a day. It was glorious.



Venice and Zurich
After Croatia, we spent a couple days in Venice. We must have walked every single alley in Venice -- by the end of our visit, we were able to quickly and easily find our way through the city without a map. I drank a lot of espresso and ate a lot of crustless white bread sandwiches and ice cream. We got day passes for the water buses and rode them around the city and to the island of Murano (famous for its glass-making). We took a lovely evening gondola ride through the Grand Canal and under the Pont Rialto. It was beautiful and romantic -- quintessential "honeymoon".

After Venice, we took another overnight train to Zurich. We stayed at the Marriott Zurich (Priceline is the way to go!) and enjoyed a day of complete relaxation. We strolled through the Fussgaengerweg (the pedestrian shopping area) and grabbed Donerkebaps for lunch. We had another ice cream, then picked up some food from the Coop and took it back to the hotel. We went swimming in the hotel pool and enjoyed the jacuzzi and steam rooms. It was the first time we didn't spend the entire day either hiking or walking, and it was a really nice change.

So that's it, our honeymoon! We really had a great time and we have over 2000 pictures to show for it. I will try to get some pictures up on this site soon. In the meantime, if you'd like to see a subset (I randomly selected 400 pictures and put them in an album on KodakGallery) please let me know and I will send you the link.

The weather's starting to change, so I should be blogging more frequently now...

Word of the season

slack*er [slak-er] (n.)
1. a person who evades his or her duty or work; shirker.
2. a person who evades military service.
3. an esp. educated young person who is antimaterialistic, purposeless, apathetic, and usually works in a dead-end job.

Whoa, I wasn't expecting the vigour of the third definition. Is it just me, or does it sound just a tad bitter? Perhaps it was written by the frustrated parent of a slacker?

Anyway, I am guilty of definition #1, as it relates to this blog. I have some serious catching up to do again. I don't seem to be a very consistent summer blogger, do I? Too many other things to do.

Chris and I just returned from our honeymoon in Europe, so I will have lots of photos to post soon. Until then, here are a few snippets to fill the gaps between Cowboy's kayaking adventure and the honeymoon:

Splitting wood


Enjoying another sunny day on the water, with Finn instead of Cowboy


Homecoming BBQ at Eric & Jen's


Boating with Ben & Carrie


Backyard opera and 80's bash at Wenarto's


Starbucks Pirate Picnic


Walla Walla Wino Women



Point B Getaway at Sun Mountain Lodge



As always, click on the thumbnails to see the larger image.