Africa here she comes!

According to their tourism website, the African country of Botswana has the largest population of elephants in the world -- over 120,000 of the massive creatures apparently roaming up and down the streets, and even blocking traffic, on occasion.

Today my sassy little sister leaves the safety of the U.S. to travel to this elephant laden country for work. Not only is she going all the way to Africa, but she's also going completely on her own for an entire month. I realize she's now a college graduate and perfectly capable of traveling by herself, but in my heart she will always be my little sister and I will always feel a need to look out for her. How in the world am I supposed to keep her safe over 8,000 miles away? I had a hard enough time not being there for her when she moved to D.C. -- and I was only 100 miles away then!

Too bad airfare costs around $8000! Sorry, Amy, I love you, but you are on your own this time! Make sure you ride an elephant for me, okay?

All good things must come to an end . . .

When Brian first started dental school he lived the ultimate bachelor lifestyle. He and three other dental students shared a typical "guy's" house complete with a 60-inch flat screen HDTV, TiVo, and even a Nintendo Wii. During major sporting events (March Madness, for example) you could find half the singles ward camped out at the house. It was the place to be! Brian, being the sports enthusiast that he is, was in heaven.

When we got married and he had to leave that all behind I thought we were going to have a major crisis on our hands. I've never been a huge TV watcher so I made it quite clear that we would not be "wasting" money on such things. I'm pretty sure he went into depression for awhile as he adjusted to his new life watching the U.S. Open on a 32-inch old-school television.

But even more than the dream TV at the guy's house, Brian really lucked out having some amazing roommates who quickly became great friends and helped him adjust to his first year away from home. He LOVED these guys! While we were dating he would constantly ask me to please set one of my sisters up with Jake so that he would be at all our family parties and he would always have a buddy to hang out with. Well, less than a year later Brian was the first to move out of the house. Our marriage was bittersweet. Yes, he got himself a great wife, but he was also leaving behind his roommates. Little did Brian know that he was setting a trend. In the next year and a half all three of those roommates, along with two others who replaced them, were all married to girls they had met while living in Richmond. France and Lindsay got married the summer after we did, followed a few months later by Jake and Jackie.

Jake graduated from dental school this week and will be moving across the country to Washington state. Richmond won't be the same without him and I'm pretty sure there will be a void in Brian's heart. Watching the guys say goodbye to him yesterday was sad, to say the least.

The original 3 . . . France, Jake, and Brian . . .

Lindsay, me, and Jackie

We've had some good times over the last few years. We'll miss these guys . . .

Palm Springs with the Richmans

Last week we joined Brian's family in Palm Springs, California. It was a much needed vacation! Even though I love my life in Virginia, I always feel like I need a vacation every couple of months to break up the monotony (does anyone else ever get that way or do I have major ADD?). When I found out Palm Springs didn't have a beach, I was somewhat skeptical. What's California without the beach? In fact, as we flew into the Palm Springs area, located in the middle of a vast desert, and stepped off the plane into 100-degree heat, I was still skeptical. But by our last day there I didn't want to leave. Our condo was set on the edge of a golf course and had a beautiful view. I loved going out on the porch every morning to eat breakfast, watch golfers, and read.

Even though vacationing with Brian's family is a different experience from my own family, I still love spending time with them. I think I got lucky in the in-law department. I can't imagine having better in-laws! Going to Palm Springs without golfing at least once was not an option for Brian. So while the guys went golfing, the girls went shopping. That's what I call a vacation! The guys had a great time sweating it out in the heat. Brian says he did pretty well, but by the looks of these pictures it looks like he spent some time in the sand!

My favorite part of the trip was taking an aerial tram 2 1/2 miles up the side of a mountain. The atmosphere on the top was completely different than what we left on the bottom. It was about 30-degrees cooler at the top so we spent a few hours hiking around and enjoying the "cooler" (75-degrees) climate.

I don't know that I'll ever go back to Palm Springs -- I like the beach way too much -- but it was great while it lasted!

Coming soon to a blog near you . . .

Okay fine -- I'll start a blog! UHG!