JANUARY 11, 2010

endless warm, salty chips and spicy salsa is a must on my dad’s list when he comes intown

no complaints here

JANUARY 9, 2010

two of my favorites. enough said.

JANUARY 7, 2010

a wonderfully cold and heavy blizzard has hit the kansas city area.

we are stranded with no where to go. fits in perfect with the three things i want to do most: hang with my dad, fight jet-lag, and unpack.

JANUARY 6, 2010

home.

someone is happy, including me.

even better my dad is with us for a week!

JANUARY 5, 2010

i should be home. i should be in my own bed. i should be cuddling with my kitty.

in keeping with the tradition of being delayed during the travel season, i am not.

but i am so close.

JANUARY 3, 2010

there is always a point when one travels that the comforts and familiarity of home out weight the adventures and excitement of traveling. that point has come.

it’s our last day in oslo and i am repacking (to make all my ikea goodies fit) one last time.

there is a slight ache in my heart. i am beginning to love this place, it’s seeping into my soul. i don’t dare tempt my heart with dreams and vision of what life would be like in norway, because for now my home is in kansas city. so tomorrow we will go back to a land of wheat fields, bbq, hot summer, and easy-living .

JANUARY 2, 2010

two boys who have never known a day without each other. back together, if only for a few days. they have this comfortable rhythm of being together. it is so good to watch.

JANUARY 1, 2010

I had forgotten how riding a train makes one a silent spectator of the world just on the other side of the window. But almost immediately that sense came back, and quickly I sunk into the peacefulness of riding. Andreas and I reflected on the past weeks we spent in the north, pausing when outside diverted my attention, “swans in a lake with 3ft of snow outside?” “was that a moose?” (and indeed, it was). I began to feel my soul replenish, almost in a healing way. The constant passing by of evergreen trees being weighed down by snow and red houses with candles glowing contrast against the white snow. Andreas and I made a pact, our next move would be to someplace with nature, someplace with rawness…someplace where I could ride trains. I was not ready get off. But we had people waiting for us. People that we have been longing to see, and so we stepped back in the world, no longer spectators but as participants.