A Lot is Happening Around Here People!

Howdy folks. Figured it was about time for an update; things are developing at a breakneck pace here in lovely Vienna. But first and foremost - look at our amazing new blog header! Compliments of the wonderful and talented Alli Arnold. A thousand thanks, Shirl. You truly rock.

Moving on....

Though much of the below won't come as news to many of you, I feel the need to get it all down in one place. Organize my own thoughts and reactions. Call it the need for self narrative.

Might as well start with the elephant in the room...
Yup, yours truly is preparing herself to once again be a blue girl in a red state. The Hub's job peddling lacrosse gear has activated some kind of homing beacon, calling him back to the head office in Houston. Yeah, you heard that right, mothah f***ing Houston y'all.

A friend of ours captured my initial reaction perfectly in this little photo-shopped gem.

I fumed and stewed and mourned for a few days. Even tried throwing myself on the floor and having a good old fashioned temper tantrum, all to no avail. The truth of it is, The Hub is following his dreams, making a living with lacrosse, and I haven't even figured out what I want to be when I grow up so who am I to stand in his way?

And once I got over my own self, I started listing all the positives and you know what? The list actually got pretty long.
So maybe in a perfect world I wouldn't be leaving Europe, but I have things like weekend visits to friends & family, margaritas, all the alt-country I can stand, good tex-mex, Robert Earl Keen and Helman's mayonnaise to look forward to.

Thinking 'bout really embracing this thing and getting myself a cowboy hat & a belt buckle big enough to fry an egg on. Already got myself a pair of shit-kickers....

But still, all this positive vibing aside, you're probably asking yourself "How the hell is she going to transition from the amazing Vienna to Houston, Texas?"

With Africa, natch!

That's right - nearly three months on the dark continent with my Irish travel buddy Suzanne. We'll go from Nairobi to Capetown with a rough overland tour company called Oasis. They have a purpose built truck with a driver & guide and our travel group - about 15 to 20 folks - will be setting up and breaking down our own camp each night as well as doing our own shopping, cooking and cleaning. We'll be visiting 10 countries all told (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia & South Africa!!) I am literally beside myself with excitement. I could go on and on about this trip (just call me Wordy Wendy) but I'll save that for future posts.

Okay - so I'm leaving my precious Vienna and taking my square-peg self to a city full of round holes. But Africa is my big, giant, wonderful consolation prize for which I am super grateful to Suzanne for doing loads of research and organizing and to The Hub for being hugely supportive and INSISTING I go. The only real bummer is spending nearly three months apart from him. I dug around in my bag o' clichés and came up with this.... Parting is such sweet sorrow but absence makes the heart grow fonder y'all.

Right?

I'm pulling a Scarlett O'Hara and thinking about that tomorrow....

Sad, husband-missing downer aside - take Africa and mix in a big dose of New York and I'm getting happier and happier. We leave Vienna late August, Chris goes on to adventure in India (his to blog about.) I go to NY and spend a full month in the hot, sweaty bosom of friends and family. How cool is that? But wait, there's more (why do I suddenly feel like I am selling ginzu knives?)

While in NY I'm spending a week with family in the GORGEOUS Adirondacks, a week in NYC and a week on a boat in Fire Island....I'm feeling positively giddy! How lucky can one girl get?

Let's recap...I leave Vienna for NY, have an amazing month there reconnecting with all my homeland peeps, head out for three months of African adventures then return to NY to spend Christmas back in the above mentioned bosom (though in December I expect it'll be a cooler, cozier bosom.) With all that you might think I'd be shouting "Roll on August!!" But wait there's more. (If you act now we'll throw in six steak knives! And a pair of never-dull™ kitchen shears!)

Tomorrow two of my favorite people are coming for a ten day visit!! And after I show off Vienna to them, we're going to Zurich and Paris!

Paris! Life just keeps getting better and better. Once they leave I'll have a couple weeks to get things in order for the big move then another set of visitors arrives! More favorite people! I can't stop with exclamation points!!

I feel too lucky for words. "Ha!" You say. "What about all those words above?!" Well, fair point. I guess I feel too lucky for brevity.

Just know that if I get struck down by lightning tomorrow, I died feeling like the most fortunate gal in shit-kickers.

-k.