Miss you too, Jenny and Jodi!

Sometimes I go off on spells where I don't feel like blogging at all and this seems to be one of those times. My Portugal-Spain-Morocco trip is now almost a distant memory and I'm back in the swing of things with regards to work and school. I actually don't have as heavy a load as usual but I'm also not very motivated since I'm taking a boring business class. It's required though so I have to take it. Can't wait for it to be done however.

I've been spending a lot more time with Savanna and this little girl just blesses my heart. There's the usual 2-year-old difficulties with stubborness and her asserting her will, but I'm enjoying watching her progress socially and intellectually. I just feel like I want to teach her everything I know. She loves to sing and one time we were walking around on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park and as we were walking towards this group of people, they smiled at us and heard her singing and they were like "Aww, she's so cute! And she's singing!" He-he. We spent yesterday singing to "Dancing Queen" and "Mamma Mia". It's nice to see she inherited my family's love of music and apparently, musical gifts as well.

I better get back to studying. I want to get through one chapter before bedtime.

Miss you girls!
Joyce

I'm blogging! I'm blogging!

Just for you, Jenny. :)

Thoughts on an early Saturday morning

Does this blog still serve a purpose when we all have seemingly moved to Facebook? Yes, very deep thoughts that pervade my consciousness in that state of being awake but not fully awake. But then again, I managed to get 2 loads of laundry going so I must be really awake. Or I'm awake but my inner self wants to go back to sleep but the thought of having too much that needs to be done is winning over.

New Year, New Beginning

Even though I've had a lousy beginning to my New Year, I'm pretty stoked at what it could bring. I've been meeting a lot of new people since summer and it'll be fun to see where things would lead and what I could learn from them. I'm always on the lookout for new "sisters" to dote on so we'll see who ends up inspiring me and gets me looking forward to things again. Inspiration is my lifeblood (what can I say? I'm an artist). It's what gets my creative juices flowing and makes life pretty fun for a single person like me. Otherwise, I just get bored and boredom is my number one enemy. I can pretty much stand anything except boredom.

I worked late last night even though I was feeling pretty lousy already so now I'm sick with the probable beginnings of the flu. Or maybe it's just a cold - I can never tell the difference. But I'm still on European time and am up early again when I could probably use more sleep. Oh well.

But on to the day!

Back to reality

Hello gals! Yes, I'm back but had an awful couple of days in Europe after Cheryl and fam left. I got charged more than $300 for extra luggage weight on one of those supposedly-low-cost intra-European flights (would not have been if I was on a regular airline) then found out my apartment towed my car before Christmas since they needed to clean the parking lot due to snowstorms. Yeah, they only put up the warning sign about towing AFTER I left. That was another $400 down the drain. I kept trying to think that things could really be worse but to me this was pretty bad and a huge waste. I was so bummed I spent my last 12 hours in Lisbon sitting at the airport just moping and crying instead of renting another car and going back out to the coast like I had originally planned.

I have my final school project due in a few days so I gotta hunker down till then, 'k, ladies?

Love 'ya all!
Joyce

Pictures from Europe

Hello everyone! I woke up earlier than I wanted to again since Spain is an hour ahead of Morocco so I thought I'd share some pictures. I managed to hack into the hotel computer and upload some pics. He-he. Ok, not really. I just know how to get around some roadblocks.

I found this sweater/scarf/hat set in a little shop in the streets of Sintra, Portugal and couldn't resist getting it for Savie.


The spectacular Pena Palace in Sintra, Portugal.


Hanging out in one of the palace turrets.


The view off the coast of Lagos, Portugal.


One of the many colorful Chrismas lighting displays around Albufeira, Portugal.


In front of the cathedral and Giralda Tower in Seville, Spain.


Cheryl dressed Savanna up in this flamenco dress and Spanish shawl.


Matt and Savie in the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.


Check out the hat and flamenco shoes. I thought they look like Minnie Mouse shoes but Savie loves clanking around in them. Yes, they do make a lot of noise when she walks.


Another picture of Savie at the Alhambra.


I normally love Moroccan food. In fact, the best meal I had when I visited my sister in Dubai was Moroccan. However, I wanted to be a bit adventurous last night so I ordered this pigeon pastry which I thought was just a name. It actually was made of pigeon! It was still really good but I kept thinking of those little birds I see hanging around city squares. Oh I know it's not the same thing but I had trouble especially when I bit into a tiny little bone. So I tried to think that it was just like chicken. After all, that's how everyone has been describing everything to me when I ask what's in certain types of food I've been seeing. Today, I might try a camel burger. Maybe it's better than McDonald's. :)

Happy New Year from Fes, Morocco

Hello everyone! I thought I could write more now that I have free internet in this guesthouse in Fes. However, the keys are all switched around and the letters are not where I`m used to so my normal typing skills are useless on this keyboard. It only took me two hours to write that sentence so I`m going to keep this short. I`ll write more when I`m back to a normal keyboard.