out of bounds

A Year and a Half Later

2011-10-18T18:50:00.000-07:00

I can't imagine anyone still looks at this blog. If you do, let me know, as I'd find that interesting. I think it's freeing to write on a blog that you believe no one reads.

As evidenced by the date of last entry- Feb 2010- it has been over a year and a half since we have written a word here. Things have certainly changed and I do wish we'd have documented more. Neither of us journals to speak of, so this was actually a good place to keep somewhat of a record of our life together.

The greatest and most joyful news, of which everyone we know is aware, is that we are the incredibly blessed parents of sweet baby Oliver! Boy was he a surprise. Just Kidding. He is most definitely a gift from God.

On another topic: I wonder about technology. The advances even in the last 5 years are incredible. What I wonder is essentially whether I like the advances or not. I question this particularly where facebook is concerned. Perhaps that is the forum that best displays the positive and negative aspects of the post 2.0 world. I really don't know if we're in a post 2.0 world, so take that to mean nothing other than the technologically connected world in which we live. Anyway, facebook is a time suck, no doubt. But, it also enables me to keep up with friends I care about and no longer get to see much, if at all, due to moves and life changes. I don't think I can expound anymore right now, I need to go to bed.

I wonder if another 20 months will go by before I write here again?

Krakow, Poland

2010-01-26T09:23:00.000-08:00

Athens, Greece

2010-01-03T12:30:00.001-08:00

Eurostar to Bruges

2009-12-31T16:52:00.000-08:00

Because this is the most recent thing I've posted (not at all the most recent trip) I will here explain a little. We have done a horrible job of keeping our blog up to date. We went to Bruges in June of 09 and it is such a lovely city. Please know that the posts surrounding this one will be out of order and date etc.

Prague

2009-12-31T16:43:00.000-08:00

Istanbul Christmas

2009-12-31T15:27:00.000-08:00

Tenerife, Canary Islands

2009-06-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

brown beaches, yes, but look at that sky.

England, wasting film. This trip was like a second honeymoon- especially in the sense that we had to rely on disposable cameras to capture it all (couldn't find our camera, which turned out to be in the glove box).

Jordan is so cute! This is how he always leaves our house--he will turn around just before exiting the gate and exclaim--bye bye cottage, wish us well, see you later, we'll miss your smell. I don't know where he picked that up. I think he said his dad used to say something similar when he would pull out of the driveway.

Yes, I am taking this, outside our house the day we got back. Ashley said she really liked this pic; which i took to mean that she had something against the top of my head. Don't know?

When we arrived they seemed in a bit of a faff. We're assuming they lost our reservation, but we didn't care, as they upgraded us to a junior suite. Breakfast and dinner included. LOVELY. This is the view from our balcony. There were lots of Germans here, interestingly. Applarently the joke amongst British people is that when you go on holiday and Germans are there the Germans go out in the wee hours to stake their claim on all the pool chairs. We did alright. If it isn't obvious that is the ocean just beyond the palm tree. It was nice, you literally walked out the back gate of the pool and were right by the ocean. There were always alot of surfers out there.

Tenerife is on a volcanic island, hence the dark sand.

I was really trying to capture the edge of my finger but ended up taking a picture of the beach....so I thought I would include that here

out for a walk, just lost a flip-flop to the ocean but recovered nicely....the waves were crazy here....I am really living on the edge so to speak. the excitement put this big smile on my face.

A HUGE wave came up and knocked me over and I lost a flip flop, but, amazingly, it came back to me. The ocean is 0 for 2 on my flops.

Same spot, but if you notice Jordan is backed up away from the waves where he can't get knocked over. Some would call it sage understanding of the way the ocean works, some would call it learning from others mistakes--me, I call it chicken!

The cute British man who offered to take our picture initially pointed the camera at himself. I had to tactfully tell him he had it facing the wrong way...

Ashley will often try to draw attention to herself by going through this elaborate process of putting on sun lotion. I usually try to buy the spray on kind (aerosol). However, she tends to argue that unless you are rubbing it in then it doesn't work as well. So, we tend to compromise and buy the stuff that you spray on but then it just sits there on your skin. Which is actually pointless because then you have to rub it in anyway. So she likes to squirt a bunch of sun screen on, because everyone knows that the more you put on the area the better the protection. The math is approximately: SPF 30+rubbed in three times + an extra gob that didn't get rubbed in = SPF 145. Then everyone usually claps at the end of the performance.

Budapest, Hungary

2009-04-26T04:26:00.000-07:00

Posting this even though it isn't done ('cause it's from last August)!!

Paris

2009-02-06T13:36:00.001-08:00

I guess I'll just post this now; I've been trying to finish it for two months.

2008-12-25T13:18:00.000-08:00

The sunset, at 3.30 as we were leaving base.

Jordan and Kellie Pickler.

And again.

Kid Rock, again.

Kid Rock after the show, out back.

Here's Kid Rock. He was a really good performer. Actually, in this pic he's performing Picture (normally done with Sheryl Crow) with Kellie Pickler.

Kellie Pickler performing Red High Heels.

So, this is the beginning of the USO event on Lakenheath Air Force Base. It was scheduled to begin at 10.30 on a Saturday, so we showed up at 10.15 and here we were claiming our seats. Trouble was, it didn't actually start until 12.30. We didn't stick around and ended up with significantly worse seats. Still, it was a really good event.

Again, the Christmas party at Brown's in Cambridge. This is Nathaniel, who sits across from me at work and is a good friend, entertaining guy.

Some of you will have heard a bit about these work friends of mine. Maddy is on the left and Leah is in the middle. Ever since I started at Proquest they've been great friends of mine. Isabel is on the right. This picture is from our Christmas party this year (the company party).

Christmas in Cambridge

2008-12-25T06:33:00.000-08:00

The aftermath of our Christmas extravaganza! So many gorgeously great presents. We are so thankful for Christmas and the most important gift that it celebrates, the birth of our Savior.

We are also pretty excited about the prezzies we got and gave. Thank you!! Below is the footage (okay, not footage) of our day thus far. We love you and Merry Christmas.

This is the gorgeous earring Jordan gave me. It is kind of out of focus here, but it is a diamond encrusted hoop with a black pearl surrounded by diamonds dropped off of it. I love them!

This is the coat Ash got Jordan. Very handsome.

We love our coats, and dang do we look good in them. I adore my new hat as well!

We tried to get a shot of ourselves in front of the tree, but failed. This is the byproduct (somehow this is the best of the batch).

Breakfast casserole! No, this isn't a 9x13 pan, so don't judge us. We had a really fun time making it, better time eating it. Jordan actually burned his throat in his eagerness to eat it.

Some old ones.

2008-11-24T13:27:00.000-08:00

Leaving Georgia and our next door neighbour friends, Broc, Katie, Molly and Jack.

Momma Jo and Kasey at Meggie and Stu's wedding.

I baked this heart cookie for Jordan when he was doing the Tanker Winter Games in February in North Dakota. SO glad they're not sending tanker people there anymore!

Aww, Annabelle, we weren't really selling you...the Bounds took you for free!

Jordan being goofy in the wildlife refuge in Oklahoma.

This is a happy memory. It was Christmas of 2006 and Jordan had just returned from a deployment. We'd missed each other tons and it was a special Christmas to finally be back together. The UK has been great for so many reasons, not the least of which is that Jordan hasn't deployed (touch wood, haha).

The Mohawk. We (he mostly) got some stares for this one. I thought it was really funny, kind of like an experiment to see how people who have mohawks or are with mohawked people are treated. Interesting to be on the other side (weirding people out as opposed to being slightly weirded out in a nice restaurant).

One of our favorites, this shot captures a lot. It was taken on the 4th of July in '04 at the Lakehouse. Gorgeous view and sunset and memory.

I have always loved this one. I was visiting Jordan in Georgia at his apartment. We used to grill steaks in the parking lot on his little camping grill. And, his old X-terra... this picture reminds me of falling in love.

Camping in North Carolina on our road trip before Jordan's August '04 deployment. I am not a camper and I remember I had to talk myself down from panic when he left me with the spiders to go get firewood that night. We also used a starter log to grill our first set of hotdogs, but thank goodness didn't eat them, as they would've been highly carcinogenic (we read the label after observing that they looked scary).

Given the upcoming Christmas Holiday, this one seems appropriate. It was taken in the summer of 2004 at the Redneck Olympics in Georgia. I suppose its value speaks for itself.

I loved this shirt until the sleevemonster had its way with it.

We all went late night to watch Clint's case.

At the drive-in, Maryville.

This is all for now, but it has been a wonderful trip down memory lane.

Bratislava, Slovakia

2008-11-23T04:10:00.001-08:00

One of Bratislava's famous sculptures. http://www.travel-images.com/rosto.html

A great little tucked away restaurant.

Don't know why I put this up, just liked it. Perhaps it is the fond memories of our stinky sandals? Or maybe the relative tanness of my foot, I mean, our feet.

The downtown was so nice. We got prematurely excited from misreading a map that we were staying right in the 5 starish looking district. We were so pleased with ourselves until a half an hour later when we found ourselves hiking a massive hill with our backpacks. Oops.

The people were really nice, seemed to appreciate tourists as Slovakia is still off the beaten path in Europe. The weather was gorgeous and the people were much better looking (think about Petra Nemcova- okay that wasn't the standard, but still) than in other places...we'll leave it there to avoid hurting anyone's feelings.

The old city wall.

Practice at getting our self-portrait right. It's one of our things we like to do, capture ourselves in various parts of the world. There's a book or at leasta short essay planned for release in 2010.

Beautiful view, not just talking about the person...

Synagogue.

UFO Bridge. Quite a site next to the historic city.

Train travel is, usually, lots of fun (times when it is not as fun will be referenced in an upcoming segment of the blog, Budapest---->Ljubljana, not that that was terrible or anything).

Vienna, Austria

2008-11-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

Our hotel, which was great.

Back of Schonbrunn Palace, please ignore the horrid image of the person in the corner and focus on the building and gardens.

At the top of the hill in the Schonbrunn Gardens.

Stephansdom

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

10 December, 1948, after the horrendous acts committed in World War II.

This is not us, unfortunately.

The Bounds of Knoxville Visit

2008-10-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely visit from Patti and Tommy in late October. Although we haven't managed to post several previous trips, I figure this one is worth jumping the queue.

To the right, the famous Big Ben. Jordan, Tommy, and Patti spent Monday in London, seeing the sites.

I started the year with 25 days holiday plus bank holidays. I now have one remaining day left to take. I suppose we've gotten out of town quite a bit, but to me it seems like I need MORE days off!

Anyway, I only had Thursday and Friday off, but Jordan

took the whole week off. They went to see the American Military Cemetary and to London at the beginning of the week. Thursday we left for Edinburgh, Scotland, and came back to Cambridge on Saturday.

This squirrel apparently was very friendly with Tommy, as you can kind of see here.

View from the Endinburgh caste, which sits on a hill in the city.

It was really chilly. In the above photo you can see both Tommy and I purchased new hats on the trip.

This is outside of a little cafe in what used to be a blacksmith's building en route to Edinburgh. It was incredibly windy in the hill country. We got to see lots of sheep grazing or hunkering down to avoid being blown off the hill. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but it makes a point.

In Jordan's squadron.

In front of Cafe Rouge, where we had a delicious lunch on the Saturday Tommy and Patti arrived.

Quayside, Cambridge, where a lot of punting goes on.

Rota, Spain TDY

2008-10-07T12:19:00.001-07:00

http://www.spain-holiday.com/rentals/travel/road/maps/132/Rota/1/Rota.html
(map - Rota is in Andalucia, South of Seville, near Cadiz)
I got to go TDY with Jordan and his crew to Rota, Spain. It was so much fun and I really appreciated being able to see what this part of his life is like. The gorgeous beach and constant sunshine weren't bad either.
The view from the beach inland.
A lot of these pictures aren't in order, but this is of Jordan's takeoff to come home to Cambridge. We were only supposed to be there one night, but due to some circumstances, we stayed an extra night/day. My boss was very understanding about my last minute, emailed request to stay. I'm told it was the office excitement for the day. I brought 2 dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the next day, so I am pretty sure all was forgiven.
Here is the runway in Mildenhall. I got to sit in the jump seat and be on the radios, so I was able to get such a shot just prior to landing.

There was a festival in Rota, kind of like Cotillion girls parading around in honor of some saint. More data needed on that one. We all thought Ms. Spain was there (not true).

A good looking man at work.

So, I am thinking to myself, what if my husband really messes up this landing, what if...I am tossed from my seat and the next thing I know my head is contacting the top of the plane? well, these things never entered my mind....I knew that the landing would be great and I would be really comfortable the whole time....well, the landing was great. I would fly Jordan Airlines anytime and with good reason, the landing was soft and really good. My confidence was restored and it was honestly the best landing I have ever experienced. Now....I must confess there have been some other good ones, but what else can I say....we were to spend the better part of two days on the beach. Okay, well, I admit, Jordan is writing now and I (Jordan) am a little biased, but you get the point.

There is a time when you feel the sun shining, the stars aligning and the time spent apart starts to make sense, you now know what it feels like to be with the one you love, doing what they love, you now know why you spent these nights apart and while you can understand there is a part of you that doesn't want to. You now know that nights on Spanish beaches, while nice, are never the same without you and that your place can never be replaced. You will now know those things that you only guessed before....your eyes have been opened, maybe for good, maybe for not...but at least now you know what it is like to say goodbye and not knowing when it is that the sun will shine on you again and reunions will be again.

Sitting on the jet, waiting to go home (we didn't go that day, which was great)

Me on the wing. I have a nervous posture here because I wasn't entirely sure I should be out there. It did give me a chance to soak up the sun whilst stuck on the plane from 9ish-3:30ish

The room we had on Rota Naval Base was incredibly nice. This is the sitting room.

The French Riviera Part 1

2008-05-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

When we got off the plane back in England after a week with the Schmitts, we were greeted by this sign. It made us laugh and I think the Schmitts need to have it on their next Thanksgiving Invitation. Just an idea to pass on to Lyn.

Waiting on the train to take us to the Nice Airport on Saturday, far too early and with far too heavy backpacks. It seems that this blog is going to have to be backwards due to the way I loaded the pictures (blogger makes the ones you load first be at the end). Anyway, this will be a view into our trip from end to beginning. It was a fantabulous trip and Ally and Schmittdog were great travel buddies. I miss 'em!
Yes, he does just keep getting better looking.

Monte Carlo - Monte Carlo Casino. We didn't actually go past the entrance hall (which was impressive nonetheless) because we didn't want to pay the 10 Euros when we weren't exactly high rollers.

This is taken in Monte Carlo as well (Monaco) at a cafe where we took a little break.

'The Rock' in Monaco. We were dumped on by a fury of rain on the way up, but were impressed by the view and Jordan's panini at the top.

What a sweet man, he dumped water on my head in our street fight.

Lap of luxury. Our yacht is down there somewhere.

Jordan has a newfound crush on Princess Grace, which clearly makes me giggle.

Here we are in Monte Carlo; we missed the Grand Prix by a week though they were already set up for it.

GRAND PRIX - MONACO - 2008

These are all from Cannes during the film festival. We stumbled upon the red carpet and premier of Kungfu Panda, which involved a lot of famous people. Some of the views were obstructed so I took pictures of the screen provided for further out fans such as ourselves. Above is Jack Black, below the pregnant Angelina Jolie and the Panda.

Here is a real shot of Angie, Brad, Panda, Dustin Hoffman, and the rest (Lucy Liu, Jack Black, whomever else). Angelina has the green dress on.

Another of 'the stars' on the red carpet.

I love that mohawk; stylish. And Ally and Schmittdog look great together in the Cannes fading light.

Cannes, with all the gorgeous yachts.

Apparently I am pretty rubbish at putting my head in these things and also outsized for the figure of fake Lara Croft.
Jordan was outsized for his mold as well. Thank goodness he redeemed himself by snapping a shot of the old man ditching his trousers.

NICE:

MARC CHAGALL

Weirdo special exhibit. At least Romeo told us all about it; what a good security guard.

Our hotel room in Juan Les Pins. Gorgeous beaches and a great location (and great price) made up for the tiny hotel rooms with built-in bathrooms (by that I mean they installed toilets in the room and then kind of walled them off with plastic). It was good though, clean in any case, and at least Jordan and my air con unit worked. Sorry Schmitts.

Picnic at the Chagall museum (after an hour of wandering around looking for open restaurants). It was an ideal picnic, perfect setting, we even made the Japanese tourists want to come on the museum lawn with us.

Juan Les Pin - the gorgeous beach.

Cute old men playing a version of Bocce Ball. You can see this in parks all over this part of France (maybe all over France?)

A wonderful beachside restaurant in Juan Les Pins

The four of us were sitting on a jetty after dinner and I dropped my flipflop into the water between rocks. I'm very skirmish but Schmitty hopped down onto the rocks and reached his hand into the black scariness and rescued my flop. This is only a reenactment.

Antibes. This old man represents so much in life.

The hike: Pic de L'oeurs

There was sun, there was fun, the sun never outlasted the fun, but sometimes the two found each other when they and we least expected it. Which is to say that it did rain a few times, but not on our spirits, those we kept hidden under the tall pines of john, or as pierre would say, jean les pines, the mountains rose from the coast as quickly as one jumps upon learning that they are burning their skin. Which is to say quickly, but the spectacular parts of the difference in sea and mountain were that we enjoyed it all. Friends-family/Family-friends, two becoming one and ones becoming too familiar, or maybe just as familiar as it should be. There will always be Nice, funny hotel rooms, and the smell of the same food, repeatedly filling my nostrils and my stomach....the food could always be the same....but the friends, family and fun will always be there under the sun.

Hiking pic de l'ours

2008-04-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

What to do with a three-day weekend. Well, I have been fairly busy with school recently so when I had a three-day weekend this weekend I was excited. We did want to get some rest so we didn't want to do too much (and our trip to France is coming up) but we wanted to get away a a little (and we didn't do much for Ash turning 24 a couple of weeks ago) so we took the train down to London. It was actually an American -themed weekend. We ate at a wonderful American style steakhouse on Friday night and then ate at an American style diner on Sat for lunch. We were really close to doing barbeque but didn't end up doing it (maybe next time). The bbq place sounded really good it was called Arkansas bbq or something so salubrious as that.

Ashley's Birthday

2008-04-12T11:23:00.001-07:00

I am now 26 years old. I tried to stop adding years past 24, but I can't lie, I am 26. I believe that I am trying to stop my aging because I love this phase of life with Jordan and want it to last! I received 26 red roses, a tradition my father has with his daughters, Ally, Kasey, me and now Kelley. And, Melanie sent me a birthday 'cake' of a hershey bar, complete with a candle. I have to say, it was a weird birthday, as no one I know (besides Jordan) has known me for even a year. Jordan had class so I went to dinner with my friend Jessica; unfortunately, I foolishly ordered fish cakes and couldn't eat them!

Moustache March

2008-03-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

We were very excited that J. came to visit. He's lots of fun. Jodi couldn't come with him this time because she was babysitting, but next time!
We had a lovely white Easter. It was amazing to see the snow; beautiful really! I suppose it does go with Easter, as Christ's death removed the debt and stain of our sins and made us "white as snow".

My Mimsy (Ash) sends so many packages, often with input from my dad, and sent a wonderful collection of Easter goodies, represented in the photo by the gum egg laying chicken.

Ah the moustache. Jordan can grow quite a good one (Clint must be jealous). He was appalled that I didn't notice for four or so days (until he pointed it out) that he was growing the stache. He shaved today and is back to his incredibly handsome self, and I am NOT biased, he's a beautiful man!

Blogging is funny, because you kind of have your audience in mind, but then the written word comes out so much differently than the spoken, for me anyway. I think I will be a much better blogger now that we have our laptop. It is so much easier! Plus I don't have to be in our closet-sized computer room. Not complaining there, I love our house so much. Anyway, for those who like to look at our blog, I think I am entering an era of blogging, with my goal being once a week.

Sardinia

2008-03-12T12:16:00.001-07:00

Yeah, so, we stayed in a converted 14th century cloister. The rooms were definitely monastic, not in a bad way, just plain and clean with a couple of crucufixes on the walls. But how cool is that? A fourteenth century monastic artifice. We loved it. And the company we booked with (justsardinia.co.uk) has a local man, an adorable old Sardinian man, meet you upon arrival. So, he met us and checked us in to our hotel and then took us for coffee (espresso really) and was appalled that I ordered just water! Anyway, he told us the must sees for Sardinia. He was utterly cute and sweet.

We so enjoyed the sun. Ah to see it for hours and hours, beside the sea. We sat at street cafes (facing the water) for hours each day to read and bask in the sun. As pale as I am I still have a pale person's farmer tan from this trip. We loved it!

These photos come from the Neptune Caves (Grotti di Nettuno). We had loads of fun walking down and then back up, and seeing the caves, somewhat remniscent of the Lost Sea. Its funny, we didin't realise we were on an organised tour until this lady yelled at us to please stay with the group while Jordan (not to name names) was taking artsy shots of his water bottle, foot, hand, etc as we made our way down. Cracked me up, but he always does.

The beautiful Med.

Jumpin' the fence.

The Cotswolds

2008-03-02T12:41:00.001-08:00

Sorry these pictures don't show much of the Cotswolds, which are idyllic English villages, very quaint and in the gorgeous English countryside. You can see Shakespeare's birthplace at least! We'll do better next time. Take a look at this website if you're interested in seeing more of The Cotswolds: http://www.the-cotswolds.org (copy and paste it into your browser).

Thanksgiving in Northern Ireland (Derry)

2007-12-07T14:46:00.001-08:00

Jordan in Norway

2007-12-07T12:29:00.000-08:00

Cambridge University Botanic Gardens

2007-11-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

Deutschland

2007-10-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

Favorite pictures (not necessarily recent)

2007-10-14T08:27:00.001-07:00

yes, its a moustache.

Doiron Invasion (not meant derogatorily, really)

2007-08-15T02:49:00.000-07:00

No, she's not really preaching. She's a Baptist after all.

Our church, C3
Notice heaven's light shining around us as we kiss. Kasey really didn't want to take kissing pictures of us on this day, how silly of her.

The living room on a Sunday
and Kasey, who is now 22!
On the Tube with ole funny man.
Ely Cathedral
Cute as Kasey Pie

What can be said?
Clint (da) kept saying Jordan looked homeless in this outfit, which I (Ashley) totally didn't get. I think he looked like he had a nice home with a loving wife.
Outside Buckingham Palace
The British Museum
Tree Hugging

The Eagle, where Clint had the chatty spit-flecking postal worker take our photo.

It is oft said that one of the great things about family is their ability to bring completeness and fill in gaps that are missing in the vacuum of having no family over here. We could not have found that to be more true than when the Doiron's came to visit. It was fun to show off our palace, I mean place, and we especially enjoyed having our picture taken together for the first time in a while. So now, we will shamelessly post pictures of the two of us, along with some great family photos.
You've seen the pictures of our cottage, now look back at them, especially at the ones of the bath. Now, picture this: our 'dining room'- which has no table and is used as a walkway, storage area for what used to be garage matter, extra closet room, and is also home to the solitary curtain rod that serves as our laundry hanger (no dryer, remember)- now becomes solely devoted to an airmattress for the 6 foot 5 Clint 'Ogre' Doiron. Kasey and Kristine (mum) shared the futon, which is also the only place to sit in our house besides the floor, our bed, or the computer chair! It was tight-knit but everyone pulled together and we managed to make the hot water stretch and did bathroom slots and had a really great time. Beyond the homefront, we went punting (the boat scenes in which a young man used a pole to move us along the river Cam), we walked all over Cambridge, ate at the famous Eagle Pub, where the Royal Air Force and US Air Force wrote all over the ceiling in WWII days, and went to London for a few days. We saw an excellent rendition of Les Miserables and even tried out the Lion King.
King's College, city centre Cambridge
Inside King's College
D'Arry's, one of our favorite Cambridge Restaurants

Getting to 1 Auckland Cottages

2007-08-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

Great Yarmouth

2007-08-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

This was our first trip to the British coast. We had been wanting to check out a British beach so we decided upon Great Yarmouth after consulting our internet and a map. The pictures on the internet looked great (a nice, quiet, pretty beach landscape) and from the map it seemed really close. Well, it really only took about 2 hrs to drive there so that was nice, but the images from the internet were a little misleading. Yes, it was pretty, but it turned out to be like a Gatlinburg beach town. There were casinos, dancing ponies, bearded ladies (okay not really, or at least we didn't see them, but we assumed they were there), etc. I don't want to sound too disparaging we actually had a really good time. The drive was great, the beach nice (if you like brown rocks) although the water was really cold and it was really windy. We found a wonderful place to lunch after much walking about. Oh yeah, and i got to take my shirt off and pose for a few pics, which is one of my favorite pastimes. The one pictured was especially funny because it said they would have preachers next Sunday, so we were left wondering what they did for most every other Sunday, hmmm? Oh yeah, and the picture of the deer crossing we found to be really detailed and funny. Let us know what you think.

Espana (don't know how to make the appropriate mark over the 'n', sorry)

2007-07-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

Once upon on a time there was a boy and a girl, they fell in love, got married, and two years later found themselves in Almeria, Spain. We decided on Spain because the weather in the UK had been pretty nasty all summer (let's say we went from one of the cloudiest places to the sunniest place in the world). We wanted somewhere warm and inviting and besides the french are well, you know. It was a great way to celebrate our two year anniversary. The weather was great, the beach was close, the hotel roomy, it was like we were the only two people in the city. We spent most days at the beach, and only the last day did we attempt something touristy. Almeria's Alcazaba was really amazing. It was built by the Muslim conquerors in Andalusian Spain and then was further added to by the Christian 'Reconquistas' who eventually 'reconquered' Southern Spain. You can see in the pictures of the Alcazaba, as well as a great one of San Cristobal statue atop the San Cristobal Castle. It was actually really impressive, nicely presented, and free (because we reside in an EU country; sorry, if you go you'll just have to pay). We climbed all over it and took pictures as often as possible. We also included some pictures of the restaraunt that we had lunch in. It was traditional North African food and included a pitcher of delicious fresh lime and mint juice, perfect for a super-hot day. To sum it up, it was an ideal, romantic, gorgeous, relaxing, refreshing, perfect Spanish anniversary.

Midsummer Fair

2007-06-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

We've just gotten word via the association of neighbors around us that the cows will be back on Midsummer Common within the week. The cows are just a unique and beautifully hilarious part of Cambridge. When we first moved here we were astounded that a pack of cows just hangs out on the common between our street and the River Cam, hence a pack of cows grazes in downtown Cambridge and is allowed to do so because of ancient common grazing laws. We love this place. Anyway, these pictures are from the Midsummer Fair, which apparently attracts the British version of a redneck crowd. In these photos, we used eachother as props to capture what was going on in the background, so please ignore our faces and look beyond. When we first saw the scantily, yet extravagantly dressed teen girls in these photos, we wondered if there was some subtext to this event that we weren't privy to (ie. fleshmarket?). We unfortunately didn't even capture the best outfits or characters. But alas, we didn't want to draw too much attention to ourselves and our film quest. Oh, and they call Cotton Candy "Candyfloss".

Ollies abound

2007-06-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

Hello again, this is the next edition of our blog. I know, I know. No Mary, No Jesus, Know Mary, Know Jesus. Our tribute to Jesus Green. This is the place that we love to read and relax on our nice summer days (which seem to be few and far between). We wanted to include this because this is the last time that we decided to go and thrash around on the skate park associated with the "green". The pictures are of Ash and I doing our thing at the skate park. You can see Ash and I both shredding it at the park. I am about to take a trip down the pipe as you can see. I actually landed a 720 aerial off the first jump and Ash did the bowl to full scale as she ascended the first trigression. You can see the progession of our moves through the pics. I hope you enjoy, we did. It was one great skate park adventure. We can't wait to show off again.

Honey, will you take out the trash?

2007-06-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

We must take a moment to comment on the trash, as it has been one of the more eye opening facets of our adjustment (ie. we feel very very American- and proud of it- where trash is concerned). There is a green bin or green bags, a black bin and a smaller black bin (both authorised to hold specifically different items), white bags, a blue bin... what does all of this mean, pray tell? Well, we are still working on that, which is why we use the dump multiple times a week. We gather that the green bins (which we are not allowed to have, though we can have green bags after begging the Cambridge Council) are for tree and plant cuttings, as well as raw food (as long as you wrap your bones in newspaper), and cardboard. The big black bin is for general rubbish, as are the white bags. The blue bin, we think, is for plastic and...it must be smushed? The black other bin is for cans, bottles and paper. Okay, well, that is great in theory- to recycle etc. However, each bin or bag or bucket or whatever the medium is collected only once every two weeks (alternating weeks for a set group). So, we are far too American to allow our trash to sit in our tiny accomodations for more than a few days. Hence, we have the council remove only one weekend's worth of our rubbish per every two weeks when it collects (which is why for our first month here you could find us sneaking trash into government dumpsters on base, in spite of their signs warning against such behavior- until we discovered the Cambridge dumpsite). We're starting to get the hang of this, so now we're off to use the Cambridge Rubbish Disposal Site (my- Ashley's- first dump experience got to be in the UK! thanks Jordan and the military, for broadening my horizons).

Jesus Green and other things

2007-06-22T12:08:00.001-07:00

Welcome to our latest blog....this promises to be the most interesting yet, or at the very least moderately interesting (in our opinion). You can see our "computer room/closet", this is where the magic happens (blog magic). It was sold to us as a second bedroom although the prospects of fitting even a twin size bed in here seem to be, to say the least, unfeasible. There is also a picture of punting (or a form of boating, by which you push yourself along with a pole), which takes place on the River Cam right out our back door and is a favorite nice weather activity. The others are of us in the city centre beside King's college and a few of us on Jesus Green. Cambridge is an absolutely beautiful city, and I can't think of one that compares at the moment. Nonetheless, we pay a fairly heavy price for the green of the grass (it is vibrantly green). That is to say that the abundant rain supply helps in the chlorophyll process that makes that grass so green, which is what we contend against daily....RAIN.
P.S. The rain also enables the growth of the roses, which, we must admit, are not ours. They really belong to our neighbors, one of whom is a French gardener, but she is kind enough to let them grow into our back patio. We are not green thumbs of yet, one of us is scared of spiders and the other has a day job. Until next time...

2007-06-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

We have only made it to London once thus far, but it is only a 40ish minute train ride or an hour and something drive, so we expect to explore it much more. We were dumped on with rain and kept walking; we're learning that rain is really okay. The weather here was much speculated about before we actually got here. Everyone is aware that the UK has a rainy climate; it does, but most days its more of a lighter misting than a downpour like we were used to in GA and TN. I know we got here at probably the best possible time, so talk to me in the dead of winter when its dark by 4 pm and I may speak differently, but the weather isn't as bad as I feared. It does change on a dime, and rain quite often, but we have had our share of blessed and much needed periods of sunshine. In fact, the longest rain streak we've endured was only about 10 days. We've been loving the daylight- it begins sometime in the 4 am's and stretched into the 10 pm's. Its weird because you wake up at 4:30 and see the light and think you should get up, then by 7 you feel as though you've slept in like a lazy bum! We walked about 10 miles and saw all the sights, though by "saw" here I mean we looked at the outside unless it was free. It ain't cheap over here, so we wanted to to do all of our thorough research before paying any entrance fees. And now, as Jordan likes to say after the famous Clark Griswold and in honor of every roundabout we've encountered and conquered, "look kids, Big Ben."

pictures of the cottage

2007-06-14T11:56:00.001-07:00

our cottage

2007-06-14T11:53:00.001-07:00

Hello...welcome to our blog. We just arrived over a month ago in the UK and have moved into our new home for the next three years. It is a tucked-away little cottage that we fell in love with immediately. It has the cutest spiders (many of you know Ashley loves spiders), a nice bath (sans shower), no room to store anything, and best of all the air conditioner well, there isn't one. But, this isn't our first rodeo. It may sound like we hate it because Jordan was up front with the challenges (notice he didn't even mention that we have a pint sized washing machine, no dryer, and no dishwasher) we can call them, but we adore it. It is in a row of cottages that date to at least the early 19th century, and our house is 1 Auckland Cottages. Pictures are worth a thousand words, according to someone, so we'll include plenty. The adjustment has been one adventure after another but as Thomas Jafferson said "Adventure is to some as family is to others" or something like that. We will have to include stories sometime of trying to find the dump, walking for hours, driving on the wrong side of the road, not knowing how to work roughly 85% of all the things in our home, etc. But that should probably wait as I have to kill this spider that is crawling up my leg, maybe I will just drown it in the bathtub.