The final countdown

In less than 24 hours we will be on the plane! Like a good blogger I have documented the part of this that has been causing me the most stress - packing. We're taking only clothes and shoes; the rest we will get there, attempting to embrace a more minimalist lifestyle. Here is our step by step progress:

Jeremiah's bags sat for a few days with only the aerobie in it (you can see where his priorities are) while I proceeded to pack, decide I still had too much, upack and pack again. The bottom picture shows that my things have started to sneak their way into Jeremiah's luggage. We're getting close to being done - my big bag weighs in at 49 lbs (we are allowed 50) so I guess I need to be very close to being done!

We've been spending lots of time with family and friends lately - we met up with my dad at Timberline Lodge, Courtney and Mike stayed the night and we played games, Mrs. Church and Badger came up and had lunch with me, had a few lunches with the Kilpatricks, got pedicures and dinner with a group of girls and, (oxford comma added by me! jeremiah that is. that was the only thing i contributed to this blog post... i'm actually editing it right now while allison is in bed. off to sleep, bye!!!) we had breakfast with Leslie and B. Saying goodbyes has been easier when I think that we will be back in December for winter break.

We got a detailed itinerary from our school about what we will be doing the first week; it sounds like they will help us get settled. We won't get internet at our apartment for a couple weeks, so if you don't hear from us in awhile just stay patient, we'll be back to the online world soon!

Off to do some more packing and maybe get a little sleep tonight!

Party!

We had a fun going away party this weekend; it was nice to see everyone and get a chance to say good bye (and I only cried twice!). Here are some of our pictures (care of Lisa):

Apparently my picture was taken quite often, but Jeremiah's not so much!

Thanks to everyone who came out and a special thanks to our friends Heather and Aaron for letting us use their house and backyard - it looked great!

We have a full week ahead visiting friends and family, and of course packing and dealing with last minute details. 5 days to go....

Insomnia: difficulty falling and/or staying asleep

Those that know my sleeping habits understand that I am not a night person. I like to be in bed by 11, and sometimes during the school year Jeremiah would find me under the covers closer to 9. Check on me at 1:00am though and you may find me on the couch desperately hoping I can find something on PBS to watch. Most nights I sleep okay, however, occasionally I wake up around midnight and am awake an hour or two. Wikipedia says this is called "Middle-of-the-Night Insomnia"; not a whole lot of creativity or originality in that name is there? Of course these times come when I need sleep the most - when I am anxious, overwhelmed or stressed - along with other more indiscriminate times. Some nights I watch tv, sometimes I write work emails (only to need some harsh editing in the morning), sometimes I have a literal midnight snack, and sometimes I just lay there hoping sleep will come. Basically, I rarely get anything productive accomplished.

Last night at about this time (it is 1:35am) my brain seemed to hear the day flipping from Thursday to Friday and knew I needed to be worrying about something because it was then only 7 days until we leave. And here I am again, 6 days away, listening to the sounds of the Sullivan house hoping that soon I will be asleep.

Less than 2 weeks to go!

We're getting down to the line, and some of our preparations haven't been very exciting - going to the bank, the DMV, starting to pack, etc. On the other hand we have been trying to enjoy our time with friends and family. Here are some of the things we've been up to:

Sailing on the Columbia

Visiting family in Sunriver

Celebrating Courtney's birthday at Uptown

Camping at Paradise

Playing hurling at the Portland Highland Games

I am also excited to spend the day with my mom this week in the midst of doctor and dentist appointments!

hurling in taiwan? kind of

spent a couple hours looking around online to see if anyone had even heard of hurling in taiwan a couple of nights ago. imagine my surprise when i found a gaa sanctioned club called taiwan celts! their main sport is gaelic football, which is a lot like hurling, but without a stick... and a bigger ball, but a couple of guys practice hurling afterwards sometimes. they practice every saturday at noon.the only catch is that they usually play in taipei, but it is only a 45 minute high speed rail ride away. i think allison will like getting up to a different city every once in a while, so she is all for it. they play in a few asian tournaments a year, and are signed up to compete in the 2009 asian gaelic games in bangkok in october this year (no, that wasn't a mistake, they actually have gaelic games in asia). guess i'll be packing my helmet, hurleys, and cleats. will keep you posted with info and pics when (not if, when) i get injured. hot damn!

Once upon a time

Here is our trip to Disneyland in pictures:

We ran into Walt and Mickey...

...got up early to use Magic Morning pass...

...went on LOTS of rides...

...found some treasure...

...and saw some disney characters! And to top it all off:

Jeremiah surprised me with dinner (the place you see when you go on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride) and then front row seating for Fantasmic.

We had a wonderful time!