yesterday morning was started with some bridge jumping close to auntie bette's place. the girls (myself, laura, ang and lynda) were the first to work up the courage.. and gus and i were the only ones brave enough to jump off the very top.. so much fun! laura's camera took some fun sequence pictures and we got some funny looks from the golf carts passing by on their "sunday drive" (everyone dresses up and goes for a little drive). otherwise it was spent packing up and saying goodbye to bette and babs' homes which we found ourselves quite comfortable in for the past 4 days.. we left don and arta behind and boarded the "bohengy" back to nassau. everyone met up at auntie lori's for a bbq, where we were introduced to our cousin justin for the first time! he took us out to the waterloo last night and he's on his way over to donnie's now to take us out on the boat! we're going to cruise around paradise island before saying goodbye to lynda and gus who are flying home today. then we will take the boat out with his girlfriend stacey and spend the night in rose island! i've been summoned! we're off. xo

day 4. just got back from aunt bette's dock where we've spent a good portion of the morning/afternoon.. we had picked up some milkshakes from "the gap" after our big shopping adventure to the two stores here on russell island.. don, arta, trista and the kids are taking a boat back to nassau this afternoon and we'll meet up with them at aunt lori's tomorrow. after swimming for a bit we looked down from the dock only to see a barracuda darting by! we packed up soon after ;) we've had glorious weather.. bette's gardener cut a coconut up for us with his machete today, we're going to track him down for a few more if we can.. otherwise, lots of late night, laughs, good food, and amazing company!

bahama mama

it's day 2 and life is good. yesterday's flight out with ang and laura was a breeze. donnie was at the airport when we arrived, and we walked out into the sunshine after leaving winnipeg in a snowstorm.. cruised around nassau with a cooler or beer feeling unnecessarily rebellious, (rules aren't quite the same here..) then linda and gus showed up to get the party started! we went out for supper at the hot spot "the poop deck" - doesn't really sound appetizing? but it was delicious. went out to the casino (i won a wopping $10!) where there were aqauriums full of huge creepy fish and there were mantra and leopard sting rays, one was 8 feet across.. we went out for a bit, and then woke up to catch the ferry to spanish wells this morning! spent a glorious day on the beach in russell island with don, arta, trista and her kids.. the sisters came out to join us for most of the afternoon. fell asleep in a hammock on the beach..

now we're back to betty's where a couple people went swimming off the dock, and now everyone's just regrouping to get ready for supper. can't say i miss school, clocks, or cell phones.. oh, and we got picked up at the ferry in a golf cart! it's the preferred mode of transportation here :) so chilllll. (i think i might accidently miss my return flight..)

back to socializing. more to come..

it's the middle of the night and i can't sleep. morning brings a paper deadline, test, and midterm; all of which i am dreading entirely. and there's a whole lot else on my mind these days which always add a new twist of insomnia to the already prevalent stress levels.. but that is okay. because it's all going down tomorrow. the awful weight of it all is always worth the satisfaction of completion.

besides school life, i've been a pretty happy girl these days. the weather is changing. first day of spring is on thursday. a few days ago i woke up and was walking to my car and i could smell rain in the air. a crisp spring morning and all i could think about was that i wanted it to rain. as i was driving to school, a car passed me and splashed my windshield with a dirty city street puddle, and i left it on there for a minute longer before flicking on the wipers. yeah, i did it. and then: it rained a little bit. glorious.

yesterday morning i stopped in at starbucks to grab a latte before heading to school. i was absentmindedly leaning against the wall by the counter where you pick up drinks, my one foot crossed over the other, waiting for my warm caffeine fix when i looked down to see this little boy, long blonde hair peaking out under a hooded jacket of yellow, blue and red. he was concentrating really hard, trying to figure out how to balance his one foot over the other, glancing up at mine for a guideline. he looked up at me and saw me watching, and grinned. so i uncrossed my foot, and he did to. then i crossed them really fast, and he followed. i crossed the other one, he giggled and did it too. then i put my foot back on the wall, and he stuck his out in front of him. a silent game played between strangers at the coffee counter.

i went out for breakfast with my friend kelli on saturday. somehow the entire morning and early afternoon was swallowed up in minutes. i guess when that happens you know you enjoy each others company. and that it's been far too long since your last visit. both of which are more than true in this case. but we're planning a london fog/crib session for the near future, so key. when we finally organize our much anticipated crib tournament, i'll be sure to fill you all in.

wheres the love?

so tonight i re-watched a movie that i own and that i've seen several times, the united states of leland. i had recommended it to a friend and he watched it this past week, so i wanted a refresher, to remember what it was all about. the ideas and storyline in the film get me thinking every time, about important aspects of my life, and how i think about life. the main character (played by ryan gosling) talks about how there's two ways to look at things: you either see all the good, and hide whats actually going on, or you can stop pretending, and see all the pain and badness. sometimes i view myself as being pretty optimistic. yeah there's bad things in the world, no doubt about that. but the sun is shining, and i have been blessed with a really amazing family, group of friends, means to an education; i have far more than i need in so many ways. sometimes i'm optimistic. but then other times i feel utterly pessimistic. i see all the bad and the hurting all around me, and it makes me feel insignifant. like nothing i could do would change anything. and it's really easy to fall into that mindset and feel pain and anger and sadness for whats going on around you. but i guess what i came up with now after sitting for a bit, is that it's much better to be able to see truth, to know what's actually going on. ignorance, for me, is not bliss. however, it is how we embrace this reality that matters. i think that if we all started loving a little more, we would begin to see this love in others, and the reality would be love, not just a mask covering what is really going on. so, here's to loving, something i struggle with constantly. but i think it's pretty worth it.