I love Reese's and milk. But only this exact size and shape Reese's cups, because it is the perfect balance of chocolate and peanut butter cream filling. I actually don't like any other kind of peanut butter, and if you mix with the ratio, say mini Reese's cup or holiday shapes, it's no good. My kids think I'm crazy, but it is totally different.
Anyways! I read a fantastic book.
Even though its a novel, and therefore fiction, I actually learned a lot about North Korean history and political ideology and society. Those elements of this book are based in reality. It's a sort of historical fiction about a real place that most of us know very little about, so it was very interesting to see what life could be like there.
I was a little put off by the Korean names at first. I had to keep flipping back to make sure I knew who was who, because they were such unfamiliar names. But once I got over that, it was fine.
There was a lot of drums, and dancing, and smoke sticks.
It got a bit crazier than The Horse Guy would have liked, and he literally told me,
"They know they aren't supposed to set off so much smoke. It scares the horse. It's a wild animal. It could go crazy and kill everyone here."
Oh My God.
It's a horse, not a lion. Chill.
Also he told me, "Step away from the horse, Miss," about a dozen times.
Nevermind that my job was to be right by my brother's side for the whole Baraat.
So, that was The Paranoid Horse Guy.
The ceremony was fantastic.
There was the part when I got into a fight over my brother's shoes with way too many bridesmaids.
That was the part when the shoes got destroyed and I got all muddy and bloody.
It was brutal.
There is video.
I'm told that is how it supposed to go.
There was the part when I put the red dots on Kevin and Isha's foreheads during the ceremony.
I was super nervous, but Janele was there, too.
Then there was the part when I tied their dupattas together.
I was really super nervous, and I had to do it alone, and I didn't realize that I was supposed to use three of a certain type of knot, but it all got done properly in the end.
They stayed tied together for the rest of the ceremony, just like they were supposed to, so Kevin and Isha can't blame me if they fight a lot in the future!
Then, there was the reception:
There was dancing and fireworks!
There was food and drink and cake and dessert.
Brothers
Also Brothers
My Parents
My Aunt & Uncle
Cheers!
My Brother & His Family
My Brother & His Bride
There were speeches and toasts.
And there was dancing!
And at the end of the night, there was a sparkler send off!
When I had my sewing machine out the other day, I decided that it was time for me to finish this tiny quilt sampler that has been sitting in the drawer for ages. This is what it looked like when I got it out today.
Really, all that I needed to do was to piece together the back of the quilt, and then quilt it together with a layer of batting in the middle.
I used the sewing machine and just quilted and quilted until I was happy.
I was watching an advertisement for VIPKID's new AI classes that someone posted on social media today, when I saw myself.
SURPRISE!
It's me! In a Chinese commercial!
I was surprised, but not entirely shocked, as I have been working on recording English language lessons to be used as a part of this project for a little more than a month already.
Kevin thinks that the AI teacher looks just like me. A digital version of me, if you will.
Today we went on a hike with our hiking group/boys club. Except we didn't. Well, we did, and they did, but it didn't go exactly as planned.
The plan was to meet at a specific point of the Appalachian Trial called Three Forks, and then hike about one mile to the Long Creek Falls. We were supposed to meet around 12:30, eat a picnic lunch, and then hike. The meeting place was provided as some GPS coordinates, which the Apple Map on my iPhone didn't really care for. Siri doesn't like these things, apparently. So, I used Google to find the spot, and then discovered that the address Siri preferred was the actual waterfall. Since I saw the meeting spot on the directions just before the waterfall, I just used that to navigate. My trusty phone told me that it was going to take 2 hours to get there, so we packed our lunch and left in time to make the drive in 2 hours.
While we were driving, we noticed something strange. When we were about 10 miles away from the waterfall, it said that we were still an hour away. This makes no sense. And then we turn onto a dirt road and start driving up a mountain. (It's about 11:15 AM at this time.)
Several things happen now. First, I have to put my trusty SUV into 4 wheel drive. Then, I notice that we are driving much slower. Going up a mountain on a dirt road is a 10 MPH thing. Sometimes as fast as 20 MPH. And I remember that I am navigating to the water fall, and that my drive time probably includes about 1 mile of hiking, as the navigator tells me that my next step is to park the car at the top of the mountain and walk to the waterfall. So I figure that we are on course and everything is fine. We are just going to be a little early.
Then, we lose cell service.
But, I figure that we are fine. My map is still working, and we are going to be in the right spot at the right time. So, on we go.
We find Three Forks and park the car on the edge of the dirt road. It's not a real parking lot, but there are a handful of cars around. It's about 12:15. We set up a nice hammock and picnic blanket. The kids start playing. It's a beautiful, sunny day. Everyone is happy and being very pleasant to each other.
We are close to the creek, so we do a little exploring while we wait for everyone else.
Every time we heard a car drive past or a car door slam closed, we made our way back to the main road to see if we can see our friends. That's when I notice something. All the cars we can see parked on the side of the road are trucks and SUV. Cars that go off road. Cars that climb mountains. And I begin to wonder if our friends can even make it up the mountain in their vans.
Finally, we head back to our picnic area and decide that it's time to eat lunch. We have a nice lunch in the sunshine and decide that it's time to hike to the waterfall. We have been waiting an hour, and it seems unlikely that our friends can make it up the mountain. We try to call them, but the phone doesn't work at all. Also, we reason that the trail is the same on the way there and back, so if they are late, they will see our car, figure we hiked to the water fall, and either meet us there, or we will meet them on the way back.
So, off we go.
It was a great hike and everyone was in a great mood.
The falls create a fair bit of mist in the air.
It's pretty cold.
But it also makes pretty rainbows.
Selfie at the falls
We hiked back to the car, and didn't see our friends. We headed back down the mountain. Towards the bottom, I started to get the messages. Their vans couldn't make it up the mountain, and we had been too early and lost cell service before they got there and found out. They found a different trail lower on the mountain and did some hiking there. We kept an eye out for their cars, but we didn't see them. So, we missed them entirely.
But...we had a great day.
Notes: This is the Appalachian Trail, so there are nice little first-come, first-serve rustic camp spots along the trail. We saw a lot of people that were obviously on much longer treks. But it is remote! There are no facilities. No garbage cans. No bathrooms. No parking lots. No ranger stations that we saw. No cell service.
