Team Efforts

Planning a successful wedding is a ton of work. I spent the evening after I got back to the States helping with the wedding of the century. A month before the wedding, Aunt Jane still had a 4 page to do list, so I has happy to lend a hand.

Wrapping candy bars was a team effort. Tom took the Hershey's bars out of the 6 pack boxes and distributed them to Erin, Aunt Jane, and me. We were in charge of using double sided tape and an intricate folding process to put Erin and Ryan's picture over the Hershey's logo. Check out how focused we were!!

Uncle Kev played an integral role in the process. I bet you're wondering what his job was. If you know my Uncle Kev, you could probably guess - drinking beer and keeping the conversation going. He was the entertainment to spice up an otherwise mundane task.

Things I Love About America: Part Deux

Here are a few more things that I love about the United States of America:

1. Variety: It seems like every other week, M&Ms and Doritos come up with new delightful flavors. Here in Morocco, you get Nacho Cheese, Sweet Chili, or Sweet Barbecue Doritos. That's it. There are regular and peanut M&Ms. That's all. In the US, you can find delightful treats like Doritos Collisions, with flavors like Ranch/Pizza or Buffalo/Bleu. M&Ms aren't slackers on the variety front. Dark Chocolate Peanut M&Ms are totally my new favorite candy. I'm also really interested in trying the Limited Edition Coconut M&Ms.


2. Pork: There are places like Rib City in the beautiful town of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. They serve all sorts of delicious ribs in a variety of sauces. Yum! Thanks for showing me the wonders of Rib City, Mikey!

3. Really Low Calorie Beer: My new fave - Miller Genuine Draft Light 64. Only 64 calories per beer. The best part? They are so watered down that you can drink all night and still stay hydrated! Ont was a real trendsetter when she introduced everyone to 64, my new drink of choice!

4. Scenic Views: I really do love the convenience of living in a big, dirty city, but I totally miss these kinds of views. This picture of a sunset with trees, the Puget Sound, and the Olympic Mountains was taken at beautiful Carkeek Park. Located in Northwest Seattle, it's a great spot to have a barbecue with good friends and enjoy the scenery. It's not even like it's a huge trip to get to.

5. Lunch Special: This one is definitely my fave. The cheapest lunch in town, the Costco polish dog, comes with a refillable soda and only costs $1.50. In Washington state, where there is sales tax, the grand total for lunch is $1.64. The price definitely makes it grand, which only gets better as the polish dog burps continue to remind one of the yummy flavor for the rest of the day.

Fancy Hand Dryers

Here's something I miss about America: signs in English. This particular sign is especially wonderful because it gives 3 step directions for drying your hands. That seems like an awful lot of effort when I can dry mine in one step: wipe on shirt.

The new theaters that opened up in Southcenter in Tukwila, Washington have installed these hand dryers that are fast, hygienic, and environmentally friendly. I have yet to find anything similar here in Casablanca, so drying my hands in 3 easy steps was a pretty exciting experience. Fancy Schmancy!

Wakeboarding

My happy place is definitely our family cabin on Georgetown Lake in Montana. I love sitting out on the deck for coffee (Diet Coke for me), playing pool, and chillin' on the party boat. This summer, I added another activity to my favorites list - wakeboarding on Jen and Scott's boat.

Here's Katie and Sydney - all smiles as we cruised around the lake watching everyone take a turn at wakeboarding or skiing or tubing.

Shout out to the best boat driver ever - Jennifer Hackley! Jen was so encouraging and made it so easy to get out of the water and have fun.

Kaylee got the award for cutest flag lady ever! Her very important job was to raise the flag when skiiers were in the water.

I was a little nervous about popping up on the wakeboard.

I got up on my second try!! Once I got up, I realized that I was a bit unsure about how to proceed. It's been a long time since my cable skiing days at Lakeland. I can't wait to refine my skills next summer at the lake - I have to work on my jumps!

Not Your Average Class Party

The End of the School Year for Elementary School is always an important time to celebrate academic achievement and reflect on a great year together as a class. We reminisce and kids make plans to see each other over the summer. At my old school in the States, we often did this by signing each other's yearbooks and bringing in chips and soda to share. Sometimes, we even got cupcakes.

That was public school; this is private school. When one of the students in the class has an awesome pool, you must spend an entire day at his house for the end of the year party. Also, when the parent hires jumping castles and blow up slides, the school's Reading Specialist has to attend if only to check it out. My dear friend and colleague Jen invited me along to this awesome bash. It was quite wonderful because the teachers didn't have much to chaperone - there were over 12 staff members (lifeguards, maids, nannies, chefs, etc.) around to keep an eye on the kids.
The trampolines were a real hit! Even I popped up, threw on a harness and managed a couple of backflips. Someday when I'm rich, I'm getting one of these for my backyard.

After a delightful breakfast spread and a lunch consisting of salad, lasagna, fried fish & calamari, and other assorted treats, the household staff laid out bowls of candy under these tents for kids to load up on as they ran around swimming, jumping, and otherwise frolicking around the giant yard.

The parents didn't expect teachers to enjoy the candy bowls, so they had fancy cookies and strawberry juice prepared for our table.

Not a bad send off to the end of the year. I don't know how I'll get used to the standard chips & soda potluck again.

Nanoose Bay

What better way to spend a weekend in North America than to take a trip up to Vancouver Island in Canada to kick it with some dear old friends from back in the day when I went to ISE. It's been 10 years so we definitely had to celebrate seeing each other again.

We were so fortunate to get to stay at Bob and Jill's pad on Nanoose Bay, where we couldn't have possibly run out of fun things to do. Check out the beautiful view from the upstairs deck. We spent a great deal of time hanging out in the hot tub staring out over the ocean and reminiscing about the olden days.



Some people were actually crazy enough to jump into the frigid water and swim around. I held back from jumping in but did eventually take an air matress for a spin around the bay.

Kevin and Janet brought supplies for the best nighttime outdoor activity ever - making s'mores.

We wanted to have some yummy jello shots, but couldn't find any little cups with them. So, we made this bowl of jello and took jello spoonfuls instead. Delicious morning treats!

We also managed to leave the beautiful house to explore various spots on the island. Our trip to the old cedar forest was short, but we managed to take some awesome pictures and climb around like monkeys.

The Vancouver Island trip had all the elements of a kickass high school reunion: good friends, awesome setting, fun activities and lots of laughs & memories. I think an 11 year reunion might just be in order for next summer. :)

Things I Love About Morocco

I know I haven't posted in ages, which is mostly due to a lack of internet access as I had the best summer ever! I finally made it home safely to Casablanca after a massive flight delay in London and it feels good to be home.

Here are a few things I love about coming home to Casa:

• Zakia! - My amazing maid had my apartment in tip top shape upon my return. The furniture was reorganized and I love the way it turned out. She also put Diet Coke and water in my fridge so I wouldn't be thirsty once I got home. To top it all off, I had these beautiful roses on my table to welcome me home.


• Proposals - There's nothing better for the self-esteem than random marriage proposals from local taxi drivers. My taxi driver on the way home from the airport managed to communicate with his limited English and my limited French & Arabic that he would like to marry me. I ended up rejecting the offer, but man do I feel special!
• Friends - It has been great catching up with people and getting exciting news (Julie's engaged - yay!). Off to a school barbecue tonight which should be a blast.
• Produce - took some new hires on a tour around the market today. I love how fresh and cheap all the fruits and vegetables are here. Markets are soooo much better than Safeway's produce section!
• Time Change - Ramadan started today which means that yesterday we set our clocks back an hour. Even though I left London at 8:45 p.m., I still made it back to Casa by midnight!

I'm trying to get back into blogging mode, so keep checking back!