maybe not. i just got back from work trips to chicago and colorado. it was a great trip filled with productive work, family, old friends, snowboarding, and new friends. however, whenever i come back from these trips and return to my luxurious round bed, i feel a bit sad.

question: why was i so happy during this trip and why am i so unhappy when i return home?

it's weird, you know. i didn't want to leave for this trip in the first place. i had so much to do at work, and so much more to do before i could begin to be ready for this trip. i was so comfortable at home. but now that the trip has past and was successful, i didn't want to leave. i used to thrive at leaving my comfort zone, but now i just dread it. i don't understand... me.

i see some of my friends and how they're so happy with their lives. it makes me jealous. i don't necessarily want their lives, but i want their feelings of happiness and contentment.

i have an answer to my question. answer: when i'm on trips, i'm running away from all my negative feelings.

ugh. i need to learn how to be happy with what i have and to stop taking advantage of all my blessings. arrghhhh...  ¶ 10:14 PM 1 comments

  oh mylanta. yea, i'm getting tired of massive updates every few months, too. but that's not stopping me from continuing to do that. :)

how is everyone? do people still read this? i guess we'll see...

november was a really good month. work sent me to morocco to give a few presentations on papers i wrote at a conference. i went to casablanca for a night/day and then headed out to marrakech for the conference for 3 days. it was such a fun place and completely different than anywhere i have ever been. it was also a pretty fast and tough french lesson. i did manage to do a tiny bit of sightseeing which included visiting a few mosques, finding rick's cafe americain (darn that casablanca movie!), and shopping/bargaining at the souks. the place really was a desert and there were camels just chilling on the sides of the roads. camels indeed. it was pretty awesome, awesome being the understatement of the year.

















russell had a great time, too. :)

















immediately after morocco, i flew to chicago to spend time with ian. remember ian? if you don't, go here. he's the irish guy who lives in the uk who i met in paris on a business trip. i met him in paris april 2006, he visited me in ny november 2006, and he came back to visit me in chicago last november. we had a fantastic time together going to brunches, hanging out at wine bars, eating deep dish pizza, and people watching that by the time he got back, he confessed that he was in love with me. yeah. it was kind of a big deal, and i did freak out a bit when he told me. freaked out indeed. in the best way possible, though.

anyhoo, he flew back to chicago to celebrate new year's eve with me and my middle school friends. we threw ourselves a little formal dinner party, long black gloves highly recommended. it was so wonderful seeing him again, and even though i just saw him last tuesday, i miss him a whole lot already.






















i booked my tickets to go visit him in england for president's day weekend. does this make us serious or something?

thanksgiving and christmas with the family was pretty good, too, but any time spent with the family is guaranteed to have some sort of positive thoughts associated with it. they're still crazy and make me laugh and feel self-conscious, but i wouldn't know what to do without them.

christmas presents of note include but are not limited to the following:

• a ukulele
  
• a movado watch
• 30 rock, season 1 dvds
  
• cashmere sweaters
• a travel bag
• an usher dvd with 5 hours of bonus footage
• a certificate for my symbolic adoption of a giant panda!!!

oh yes, go ahead and call me "mom" now because i am now an adoptive parent of a giant panda, all thanks to ian. did i mention that i really like this one?

[sigh]  ¶ 1:09 AM 2 comments