Let's take a closer look at the Natural History Museum in London

 

When you arrive at the Natural History Museum in London, this is the sight that greets you. The building is stunning! My favorite part about it is that the building was actually built in 1881 with the intention of it being a Natural History Museum. How rare! Most of the museums I have encountered in my life seem to be in repurposed buildings. What this means for the Natural History Museum in London is that the entire building contains details rich with flora and fauna in every nook and cranny. There are relief sculptures of animals and plants everywhere! Try to find some in the pictures I've taken... 

 

Do you see the dragon-like creature guarding the windows here?

And do you recognize these unique animals? Perhaps they were real or perhaps they were imagined.

Even the interior is covered in details. Here, sculptures of fossils line the walls and decorate the columns.

The main hall's centerpiece is this complete dinosaur skeleton, but what catches my eye is still the details in the building!

How oranate!

This is a view toward the entrance of the building, looking through the dinosaur.

And of course, I looked for the plants, which are interestingly all over the ceiling of the grand hall. Look at all those gorgeous illustrations of plants. I could spend hours just laying on the floor gazing up at these.

 

Natural History Museum

What happens at the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) Annual Exhibition Meeting?

 

This is the grand entrance to the Natural History Museum in London. The front entrance is German Romanesque architecture style designed by Alfred Waterhouse, a young architect who was called upon when the original architect died. We all fall into our jobs in funny ways, don't we? But I digress...

This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland's Annual Exhibition Meeting here in this fabulous building. I should mention that the BSBI recently changed names from the Botanical Society of the British Isles, but managed to hold on to the acronym. Nicely done!

So what happens at an Exhibition meeting? Well, I walked in shyly to find out and was instantly consumed by a small area of tables showcasing botanical information, fun plant identification curiosities, and plant research information. There was also a large book sale going on. When I say consumed, I don't mean by the exhibits themselves, but by the huge masses of very friendly, eclectic botanists of all ages chattering away about the exciting plants they had recently seen, discovered, or happened upon. 

Following the exhibition period, there were talks by the staff and volunteers of the BSBI to discuss recent society happenings, plans, and updates. Then there were talks about how plant geeks like myself can use different venues to get others excited about the green leafy things around us too. We are encouraged to use digital avenues (social media like Facebook, Twitter and blogging) as well as tutoring, guiding walks, and engaging the public in all ways big and small. The highlights were from:

• John Tweddle (Head of the Angela Marmot Centre at the Natural History Museum) who talked about how he is working to engage the public at the museum with hands on science
• Brian Eversham, who is an amazing speaker and loves nature enough that he crosses over from entomology to botany. He can be heard in this video talking about the Wildlife Trusts in Britain:

It was a wonderful way to spend my day and as I was leaving, I paid my dues to be a member for the next year. I'm really inspired by the national botanical society and I can't wait to be kneeling in the mud next to fellow members looking at a new plant.

Mama always said... not to drink milk when you've got a cold

The Englishman has a cold and I'm doing everything I can to help him feel better. I've made Dad's famous chicken corn soup, bought him man-sized tissues (haha, yes, that is a thing here in England!), and tucked him into bed early. This morning we were talking about food and I mentioned that he probably should lay off the dairy for a bit because it would make him feel even more stuffy. He'd never heard that theory before. Here's what the Mayo Clinic has to say about it:

I've heard that you shouldn't drink milk when you have a cold because it increases phlegm. Is this true?

Answer

from James M. Steckelberg, M.D.

Phlegm is the thick, sticky mucus that drips down the back of your throat when you have a cold. Although drinking milk may make phlegm thicker and more irritating to your throat than it would normally be, milk doesn't cause your body to make more phlegm. In fact, frozen dairy products can soothe a sore throat and provide calories when you otherwise may not eat.

So, the myth is half true! I do like the recommendation that you binge on ice cream when you're sick!

Did your Mama tell you the same thing as a kid?

My Daily Writing

Click on the image above to get a clearer view of my current chaos created with Creately

At this exact moment I am overwhelmed. I am in a wonderful place called Zurich, Switzerland and loving it, but along with this love I am getting a flood of other emotions. I am completely inundated with a sense of "new": new country, new people, new languages, new school, new lifestyle, new transportation, new words, new bed, new home, new family, new climate, new, new, new. Every second of every day is an entirely new experience, which is amazing, but there is no lull in this tsunami of "different." Without sounding ungrateful, dare I say, it's exhausting!?

But as my wonderful sister-in-law warned me, this feeling should last for the first 2 or 3 months until you suddenly start to feel less clobbered with newness and more triumphant over the flood of new information. I'm just getting to the middle of month 2. My absolutely amazingly helpful and supportive mother, Margrit, helped me through the first 2 weeks in Switzerland by flying here with me, staying with me in a hotel while she chauffeured me through red tape and bewildering contracts in German. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I don't know what I would have done here without you Mom! So technically, I calculate that the start of my immersion in Swiss culture began 1 month ago after Mom headed back to her beautiful oasis in the United States. Just yesterday, for the first time in a month, I had my first glimpse of relief. I completed almost all of the things on my to-do list without that feeling of exhaustion or defeat. And I think I even managed to do it without inadvertently offending someone in Swiss-German!! Woohoo!

During my time weaving through the newness of Switzerland, I am also continuing to write for the blog and especially reliving all the amazing adventures of the Treehugger Tour. I am proud to announce that I am in the process of transcribing the notes I recorded on my favorite handy iPod voice recorder while driving (TuneTalk from Belkin), the notes I took sitting in my tent scribbled into a few notebooks, and the great information I gathered via brochures and newspapers along the way. It's all being slowly trickled to you as I get it down in coherent words (thanks for being patient).

Here's a new great tool that I hope will keep me focused and really prompt me to write everyday, even while I'm sorting through my new life in Europe. It is called 750 words and it is a simple and motivating online tool which encourages its users to write at least 750 words a day. Hopefully it'll help me get you all the fun stories faster. Even if you're just thinking of documenting your life more often, as we all should do (I find it spiritual and cleansing), this easy tool may encourage you to write every day. Check it out here: http://750words.com/. And the creator, Buster Benson, is pretty amazing too. Check out the other things that Buster Benson has done here. Let the words flow!

I discovered 750 words and Creately through one of my favorite new websites called MakeUseOf.com.

Let the words flow!

Five second rule??

If you didn't know already, I am in love with flow charts. I love the idea of straight forward "if this...then that" statements. And usually they are pretty fun to play with. This one is hilarious! My favorite part being the "bacon = eat it" part of course!

via MyConfinedSpace

I guess I have food on the mind. Today I went food shopping and my shopping list included the following Swiss essentials:

1. Cheese (Emmentaler)
   
2. Chocolate (a mixture of 3 different bars to compare brands...that's a legitimate reason right?)
3. Gummy bears
4. Local specialty lunch meat
   
5. Wine (really great wine comes super cheap here!)
   
6. Beer
   

And yes, that was the FULL extent of my shopping list. Not bad! I was in the cheese section for a good 15 minutes. So many amazing mouthwatering choices. The same goes for the meat, wine, and chocolate. The best gummy bears are the standard Haribo kind....yummm!

Willkommen in Switzerland

Yes, these are real alphorn players giving a performance on the street at a market in my Grandma's town (Chur)!! Seriously. You guys asked for alphorns, you get alphorns!

So I have made it to Switzerland! Very exciting! I am working on getting all my ducks in a row for grad school to start in a couple weeks, and it has been somewhat exhausting. Having talked to some foreign exchange students in America, I realize that the process of moving to another country is always a bit difficult, but I never really expected the paper-war that I walked into. Naively thinking that as a person with Swiss citizenship, I shouldn't have a problem with all the visas and foreign paperwork, I guess I imagined I could just bound back into my country and plop myself down somewhere. Not the case! But I think things are finally in order - two temporary homes, one semi-permanent apartment, school identification, transportation, scholarship, accounts, registering my new location, getting birth certificates, etc. Craziness! But, who am I to complain? Life is wonderful! I am now living in lovely Switzerland, soon in Zurich, and very close to my extended family (whom I can't wait to get to know better). The bratwursts, cheese, chocolate, meats and beer are everything I've ever dreamed of.

Beware: I may be twice this size when I get back to the US if I can't find more time for mountain hikes!

I have made a lot of difficult decisions in the last year to change my life for the better, and I really feel like this is where I am supposed to be. The past year has been a sort of metamorphosis, and now I think I have emerged as a happy person, with lots of life, and lots of hope for the future. Thanks to all of you who have been a part of this transformation!

I am secretly a huge fan of flowcharts and I especially love this flowchart for happiness. It pretty much describes my recent decision making process. I find it to be quite straight forward and totally reliable.

Via Swissmiss.

And at this point, the flowchart has led me here, to Switzerland, to grad school, and closer to all of this:

Family. This is my grandma and Aunt Monika.

A different habitat. This is a very poisonous and totally perfect fly amanita that I found up in the mountains (Flims). All it needs is a little gnome next to it.

Amazing food and drink. Coffee (real espresso!) at a cafe near Bahnhofstrasse, the most expensive street in Zurich, Switzerland.

Beautiful views. Me next to the Zurisee in Zurich! What a beautiful day!

And great festivals and markets. Mom at the Wednesday Market in the Zurich Hauptbahnhof (main train station). Yummy!

And, just to let you know, I am still going to be posting about the Treehugger Tour. I am currently finishing an article about the trip which will be published in the next edition of American Forests Magazine! This is very exciting! Keep an eye out for it. You can subscribe to the magazine or download it from the website when the next edition comes out. I'll let you know too. I'll get back to blogging some more after the article is complete. Thanks for your patience!

Ciao from Switzerland!

Lessons from a Bike Ride through the Florida Keys

The bike ride through the Florida keys is complete and it was so much more than I ever expected. Here are a couple of suggestions to remember if you want to do something similar and for me to remind myself when I do this again in the future (because I certainly want to!):

1. there is a public bus system available from Florida City to Marathon Key (Miami Dade Transit/Monroe Express) and there is another shuttle available from Marathon Key to Key West (Lower Keys Shuttle). So if you need a bus ride for a portion or to retrieve a car on the return, this option is great. It would certainly have been cheaper than renting a car as we did.
2. Marathon Key and Islamorada have a lot to offer as towns. In between roughing it at the state parks, sweating it out on the bike, and swatting mosquitoes, take some time to enjoy the tiki bars, local artisans, and museums along the route as well. It's a real taste of the Keys. Plus, after all that riding and sweating, you deserve a frosty beer...and it tastes so much sweeter!

Here's a map of the things I saw along the way...amazing! Great stops!


View Florida Keys Bike in a larger map

And here are a few things I learned along the way:

1. If you look like a hobo, no one will bother you.
2. Places that look really interesting from a car at 55mph may or may not look as good at 10mph
3. When the condition of the bike lane begins to rattle the bolts off your bike, give up and ride on the road.
4. Release your inner child. The excitement, the curiosity, the wonder.
5. Bandannas double as towels in a pinch (again, hobos really know what they're doing)
6. I could be like MacGyver given unlimited time. Necessity really does breed creativity.
   
7. Chain your bike up everywhere! The 10 pound Mr. T chain scares most people away and it adds to the hobo look.
8. Marathon Key marks the beginning of the international island time zone. Time to start hitting the tiki bars. Enjoy!
   
9. It's nice to have a weight and space restriction, it keeps you from buying random island art and coconuts carved into monkey faces.
10. Saying goodbye is hard, but leaving is not the end. You can see friends and family even from afar if you try. Only death is final, not goodbye. Miss the ones who have passed, visit the rest.
11. Things will go wrong on an adventure. They're supposed to, otherwise it wouldn't be an adventure. Relax.
    

And remember, when you're leaving Key West and driving, slightly hungover, north through the Florida Keys, stop at Baby's Coffee for a little boost. You won't regret it.

Advice on Long Key, Florida

During the planning stages of my 100 mile bike ride from Key Largo to Key West, I got a lot of mixed reviews and unsolicited advice. I am open to all forms of advice. I take warnings seriously, but usually they don't keep me from pursuing my goals. I take recommendations to heart. And I appreciate all forms of encouragement or inspiration.

Here are some things that people said to me about the trip:

1. "Be careful" - Sail Inn patrons, Delray Beach, FL
2. "How do your parents feel about this?" -mother of four on the snorkeling trip
3. "I'm so excited for you! I am living vicariously through you!" -my awesomely supportive Mom
4. "You're crazy" -lots of people
   
5. "It's too dangerous" -lots of Floridians
   
6. "Where did you COME from?" -Fernando, another camper at Long Key State Park. He exclaimed this while I was setting up my tent. It came out sounding like he was asking me which planet I was from, but he was just asking how I got there without a car.
   
7. "Awesome! I've always wanted to do that! Are you writing a blog?" - Fernando, same conversation, after I explained that I hadn't arrived via spaceship. I hope you're reading this Fernando! Thanks for being a great neighbor!
   

And the best quote of the entire trip:

"You watch your butt!" -a word of advice from camping neighbor John at Long Key State Park after I said to him "be careful, take care of yourself" as he drove away in his truck without a driver's side door. It took me a minute to realize that he probably meant to say "watch your back." I think I like his version better.

So if you're out there adventuring too, please watch your butt!

Bike preparation

And the adventure begins!


View Road Trip Route in a larger map

Today I am leaving for Key Largo, FL where I will begin a 100 mile bicycle ride through the Florida Keys, landing in Key West, FL by Friday. I'm really excited and pretty anxious too. This is something unlike anything I've ever done before. Along the way I will be checking out some of the largest trees in the Keys. This area has a ton of champion trees simply because it's the southernmost part of the United States, plus the semi-tropical habitat allows many different species to thrive here.

I have rigged up my Trek bike and I will be back in touch with you all next week, as I won't be dragging my laptop on the ride.

Cheers and Happy 4th of July to all of you!

Lesson from a Tudor

More baby burrowing owl pictures I took at FAU. Click on the photo for a better view.

Now that I'm in the process of moving again, I've come across some of my old contacts, including the contact for the amazing photographer that I mentioned I had seen speaking about burrowing owls at the Audubon Society meeting years ago. His name is Dan Tudor. He photographs many amazing species of wildlife in Florida, but definitely focuses on burrowing owls and documenting their behavior patterns. He lives in southwestern Florida and has done a lot of work for the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife. He has documented an astounding 1100 pairs of owls in the Cape Coral area with a Nikon F5 and a Nikon D200 using manual focus lenses. On occasion he also uses a Canon Powershot G9. I'm sure he has upgraded since I saw him...which must have been sometime in 2007.

His presentation to the Audubon Society was really moving and somehow hit me at a time when I really needed some inspiration. He said that he learned almost all of his amazing photography skills by reading. Non-stop reading. Of all the other nature photography greats. He especially recommended Art Wolfe and Niall Benvie. If you get a chance check out Niall Benvie's blog...wow, I could spend hours there!

Even though I was out of my element, in a small high school media room, with about 3 dozen Audubon Society members over the age of 70 (this is Florida remember?), and probably the only blonde, I was really engrossed in this talk. I even wrote down a quote that particularly spoke to me:

"Go to your roots. It will change your life."

Mr. Tudor was referring to heritage and how important it is. Well...I agree with that statement. I know that graduate school in Switzerland, near my family and roots, will certainly change my life. Only time will show how this change will materialize.

Rolling Seas

What is this a photograph of? Can you guess? It's a close up...

Today was a gorgeous fishing day out in the Atlantic Ocean, 10 miles offshore from Jupiter, Florida. Yes, it's Wednesday, but I got a pass from work. Well, actually, even better. My boss took my coworkers and I out fishing on his 21' Sailfish center console boat!! Woohoo! It's the end of the season and apparently it's a tradition. I say, cheers to tradition!

The only glitch was that what was supposed to be a day with wind blowing at 6-9 knots with seas of 2-4 feet tall, we ended up with 6-8 foot tall swells tossing the boat around, rolling us this way and that as we fished the "mixing zone". Unfortunately for my coworkers, they both got badly seasick and were "chumming the water" for most of the afternoon and generally miserable. I was lucky enough to avoid the seasickness and continue fishing! All in all, we ended up getting a meager helping of bait fish (sardines and cigar minnows) that helped us land 3 nice dauphin (aka Mahi Mahi).

We caught a bunch of schoolies that we sent back to the sea for fattening, but these three were keepers, especially the big bull that was about 3 to 3.5 feet long. He was a fun fighter. We certainly earned our dinner.
I'm only 5'3", so even though we didn't officially measure the big bull, I'm pretty sure he's about 3.5 feet.

Then our boss commenced to help us clean these beautiful fish:

Our Mahi Mahi rations....yummy!! Come and get it! Here's the amazing recipe that I cooked these up with. Finger licking good fresh catch.

Even the dog got some!!

That's the tail end of today's fish tale.

Flea-bitten Female

I started my 3 mile run tonight with a shirt and good intentions...

I ran a 1.5 mile route down to a small local marina that I really like where a few really beautiful sailboats are docked. I've been by this dock several times and have seen a really fat orange cat lounging around the docks. I thought it'd be a beautiful evening to run down to the marina, give the little guy a pat, and then head over to the playground for my hardcore playground workout (no seriously, it kicks my butt!).

Within the first 5 minutes I got whapped pretty hard in the eye by a bug. This put me to rubbing my eye and tearing up on the corner for another 5 minutes as I tried to cry it out so that I could see again. So then I continue to run down the street like a pirate and get down to the docks.

Just as I get there, I see the exact cat I was looking for slowly dragging itself across the planks, sopping wet, and much smaller looking than I remember. He was looking really rough and as I approached a few mallards took off from the water. They were no doubt the creatures that lured him into the water to begin with. He looked pathetic. His fur stuck to him in funny ways and water streamed from his face and legs. I think he was pretty exhausted from trying to get back on the dock too. I looked around and I have no idea how he managed to make the 2 foot leap from the water back onto the dock, but luckily he had managed. So there I am with this super cute, sad looking cat that keeps meowing at me as I try to calm him down. He was obviously uncomfortable and I wanted to help out. So I took my shirt off and toweled him down, much to his contentment. As I inspected my handiwork, I took a brief look at my shirt which was now stained brown with the muddy water from the intracoastal. I barely noticed some black specks in his fur and on my shirt...then it hit me and bit me all at the same time...oh crap! FLEAS! I start to itch immediately out of paranoia and disgust. Sorry cute kitty, no more petting for you. After I reassess my shirt and deemed it hopeless, I quickly found a trash can to rid of it. So now I'm left shirtless, standing in my sports bra, itchy. I ran the 1.5 miles back home as quickly as possible. It turns out fleas are a really good motivation to run fast. When I reached the house I immediately took a scalding hot shower, threw my clothes in the washing machine, and tried to forget my bug issues of the day.

It's funny. Just this past weekend when my Mom was visiting, I was contemplating the daunting task ahead of me called moving...again. The next time I move I plan to take only a car full. So in the meantime there will be a lot of downsizing and sorting. As it turns out, flea infested clothing is the first to go...no questions asked, no remorse! Thanks kitty for kicking off spring cleaning.

Here are some pictures from this past weekend to help you get the thought of bugs out of your mind:

I love this picture of Mom...she looks radiant and so healthy!

Treehugger Confessions

Over the years, I've been asked many times why I've chosen environmental science as my career path. I've never had a great answer for that. It's not something I've ever been able to put into words. For me it's just a given. Um, of course I would go into environmental science, it's what I love and I can't imagine being happy doing anything else. But how do you put love and passion into words, on paper, or as a concise answer during an interview? It's so personal to me that there are times that I get a little bashful to talk about it. Almost as if you're asking me to disclose some beautiful secret that I've stowed away for years but it seems silly and much too private to talk about it now.

What lead me to this train of thought is that I just read the most amazing passage from a book I've had for years but have never cracked open. It's called Talking on the Water by Jonathan White. I think Mom got it for me years back...but I can't recall exactly. Oddly enough, I just came to find out too that this book was written based on interviews conducted in 1983 (my birth year) with environmentalists (my passion) on a dilapidated schooner (one of my favorite recent hobbies). So I guess it's meant to be that I haven't started reading it until now.

The first interview is with Gretel Ehrlich, a writer and avid traveler with strong ties to nature. Interestingly she discusses how nature helped her heal during the loss of a loved one. This passage really speaks to me and I feel that this is one of the best descriptions of why I feel so connected to nature.

"When you're sick, the instinct is to go to bed. When you're grieving, the same instinct makes you want to find a place that is uncomplicated, accepting, and tolerant. I wanted to hook up with whatever it is that makes things live and die, and I wanted to be with people who weren't going to talk it into the ground.

Anyone who lives and works in the natural world has a tacit understanding of death. If you know about death and about how things come into life - about the joys and sorrows associated with these things - without psychologizing it to death, there's nothing more that needs to be said."

The 42 acres of hardwood forest I grew up on was the perfect hideaway when I was sad and helped me grieve the loss of my father 17 years ago. Still today, I find solace in being outdoors during times of joy and sorrow. It makes me feel alive, clear headed, and miles away from life's troubles.

Just thought I'd share something I've been trying to describe all these years. What's your emotional connection to nature?

I have officially been accepted into a Masters of Environmental Science program at the ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich). I will be moving to Switzerland and starting classes in September of this year! I am so excited!! Not only will I be living in Switzerland, closer to my family, but I will also be starting a new and challenging part of my career. I will be majoring in Ecology and Evolution. Hopefully someday I will be managing a large tract of land to conserve for our future generations. This is the passport photo that I sent in with my registration papers. It will soon be appearing on my new shiny ETH Zurich student ID card! I can't even believe this dream is coming true. Someone pinch me...gently.

Beach Bummin

Delray Beach sand

Have you ever been to the beach at night? If you haven't, here's an amazing phenomenon that you should try to experience. Once the sun had gone down, even after daylights savings time, you may think the day is over. Well, far from it! Here's a fun nighttime experience for you to try. Wait until the sun has gone down (extra points if the moon is still high in the sky) and walk your "other of some significance" to the edge of the ocean, look to the sky to see how the stars are aligned, take off your shoes, and enjoy the lapping of the ocean on your ankles. If you don't trust the one simple truth that the ocean will forever make this motion, than you can return to your cubicle in contentment. Now, here comes the fun part. Move up the beach toward the dunes, dig a small hole about 8 inches down and then stick your feet in. Feel that warmth? The radiant heat from the sun shining all day is trapped below the surface of the sand and will warm your toes all night long. How amazing is that? It's the power of the sun but at night...awesome!!

So take off your shoes, relax and let life flow before you. If you begin to wonder why the stars are aligned just so, then you are human. If you begin to wonder why life on the outside feels so amazing, than you are human. If you forsake everything for this moment, then you are human. Life is wonderful for once, enjoy it.

My bike that I rode around town on last night. First I hit up the awesome Delray Beach Film Festival outdoor films. I lounged on the lawn and saw two really great films about wakeboarding and surfing. No wonder I got the bug to ride to the beach after that!

My lousy attempt at a nighttime photo of the ocean.

Fish Tales

Another amazing weekend just flew past. One of my favorite Tampa girls, Anni, came by to visit and we were lucky enough to be invited on a really amazing boat by a dear new friend in Delray Beach. This weekend was a good time for some fish stories. You know the ones I'm talking about? The kind when catching a 2 foot king mackerel quickly becomes a 4 foot wahoo. When you find yourself in the sun for too many hours, the rum is flowing freely, and old secrets are shared on the deck of the boat. It was a great fishing trip. Great weather and great people. These memories will last forever.

I learned that if you hold the fish really far away from you, it looks a lot bigger!

Weekend Adventures

How was your weekend? I had been hoping to make it to Marley Fest down in Miami this weekend to enjoy some good reggae music, but the torrential rain kept me from the trip. So instead it ended up being a great weekend of sleeping in, running errands, relaxing at home and in the hammock when the weather allowed, and following the full moon to strange new places. It's nice to have a weekend once in a while where nothing works out as planned, but yet it turns out to be better than expected. Oh, and GO CANADA!

Florida Flair

Oh Central Florida, how I love thee. After another lovely weekend in Tampa, I took the 4 hour drive back to Delray Beach. Central Florida is a very eclectic area filled with local Florida crackers, migrant workers, senior citizens, and good ol' hillbillies (this isn't a dig, I've got quite a bit of hillbilly in me.). Here's a gem I saw along the way. For those ladies who've always dreamed of a dress that goes with those awesome cowboy boots, there is fancy western wear bridal store in Central Florida waiting for your business.

Birthday Blog

Hello all! The evening leading up to my birthday was absolutely wonderful and after all that I enjoyed that night, I really feel in my place in Delray Beach. I got home from a long day in the laboratory measuring, weighing and identifying small shrimp, fish, crayfish and beetles drenched in ethanol. A short and very loud thunderstorm had just passed through leaving the sky looking like child smiling just after a temper tantrum. I grabbed my bike and headed to the beach. By the time I got there the sun had already gone down, moonlight was scarce, and the waves were softly crashing on the sand. I crept down to the beach catamarans, past a surf fisherman, and onto the hull of one of the beached catamarans. I laid there and watched the stars which were now peeking around the clouds. The night air was just the right temperature to keep me warm even in a t-shirt and shorts. Perfect. This is love.

After a while I rose from my beach getaway, hopped back on my bike and rode to town. I stopped at the grocery store for some dinner supplies and returned home. With the windows wide open, music playing and some candles flickering, I made this Chicken Scallopine recipe (turned out awesome!), drank from the wine I bought to cook with, and made a dish of gooey, fudgy brownies. What an amazing night! I feel so comfortable and homey.
Feb 3, 2010 was a great day and I can't believe I'm already 27. Thanks to all my amazing friends and family members! I love you all very much and I'm so happy that you are in my life.